The Gay Community In Benin Is Getting Victimized By The Police During A Period When We Should All Be More Concerned With Saving Humanity
The reports have been coming in with scanty details, and I wanted a clearer picture before I can make a post about it.
It would seem that for a few weeks now in Benin, the police of a particular division have been arresting members of the gay community and pressuring them to give up information about their friends, who they in turn arrest and pressure to give up others, in a chain of targeted harassment that is unlawful but unsurprising for the Nigerian Police.
Nobody really knows how the arrests started, but it’s been speculated that an effeminate guy was stopped by the police, and upon going through his phone, discovered a ton of “incriminating” things that gave them the bright idea to start a witch hunt against the community.
Some of the reports I’ve gotten claim that well over twenty guys have been arrested, their phones seized and illegally searched through, and they are made to admit that they are gay and further pressured (beaten really) to give up names, phone numbers and addresses of their friends. The police then go on to start calling these numbers to harass the guys on the other end of the line. Other times, they force the guys they’ve arrested to call their friends and fix a meeting with them, in locations where the police will be lying in wait, ready to pounce.
A KDian said: “They pretended to be the customer of a particular guy who is a tailor, whose info had been given to them. They called this guy up and asked for his shop address. And thereafter they located him. And that was how the police descended on his shop and carried him away into their bus like he was a common criminal.”
And what is the endgame here? Of course to extort these guys and their families! No surprise there. Giving information about their friends is one of the bail conditions, the other being payment of from 50 thousand naira upwards.
Someone else reported: “If you maintain that you’re not gay, they will beat you, torture you to see if you will confess. If you don’t, they go on to negotiate bail with your family. They tell the families that it’s a gay-related arrest. So these guys are also getting kitoed to their families.”
These reports are coming on the heels of earlier reports that made the rounds on social media of a lesbian WhatsApp group that was targeted by the police in Lagos after someone in the group was reportedly caught and her WhatsApp information compromised. Girls in the group were then getting called and lured to locations where these very corrupt men of the law were waiting to arrest them.
And all these nefariousness is going on during this COVID-29 pandemic, a period where most people in other countries are discovering the humanity in them to help the people around them so we can survive this pandemic as a global village. People in different nations are contributing to the survival of mankind by observing appropriate social distancing guidelines and being kinder to those around them.
But in Nigeria, the marginalized communities are made the target of a witch hunt by the POLICE no less!
Something has to be done about this persistent dehumanizing of citizens by the police. This has absolutely nothing to do with the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Law. It is simply a gross abuse of the fundamental human rights of average Nigerians who are just going about their lives.
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16 Comments
Rubby
May 13, 07:15Very correct.
We have not been having peaceful night rest in Benin for over 5weeks now.
The police men are turning community members against themselves by lynching them.
The most painful thing in this whole saga is that some of the police men are gays too.
Pink Panther
May 13, 07:17If you know any of the policemen who are gay, please communicate that information to me.
Dillish
May 13, 07:16Been seeing this on jp fighter facebook page. It was said that a guy actually teamed up with the police to lure gay people. The location given was Benin airport road. Again we heard gay professionals are also been arrested and asked to pay up to 300k before they will be released and the money is shared amongst the police and the guy luring innocent gays.
His picture was uploaded on jp fighter facebook page.
Pink Panther
May 13, 07:18Can you email me photos or screenshots of this guy?
Dillish
May 13, 07:57On it
Dillish
May 13, 08:01His name is David Uyi on Facebook. The other guy who who is also said to be working for the police is ogbeifun Didi omosefe.
Rubby
May 13, 07:25So many faces has been popping out as the guys luring the police guy to do the nasty drama in the community.
But am not quiet about one of the face that was posted .(David Uyi)
Because that guy seems not to be that kind of person all the time I have known him.
Well sha, change is the only constant thing in life.
Maybe there is a twist some where.
Now one thing we should also understand is that some of us don’t have the power to stand such pressure .
Dillish
May 13, 08:05“because that guy seems to not be that kind of person”
You can only speak for yourself bro
Rubby
May 14, 08:56Dillish can u pls calm down.
If read my comment well,u will also see that I said change is the constant thing in life.
Audrey
May 13, 12:32The said David Uyi has come out to debunk the claims of him being involved.
But how would a PROFESSIONAL fall prey to these rogues in uniform to the point of parting with huge sums??♂️??♂️
I was talking with someone I suspected to be Kito and he said he’d come to my office to disgrace me as he’d gotten my office address but I just laughed it off cos I had already informed those that mattered that a nuisance was threatening to come to my office to create a scene because I wasn’t giving in to some cheap blackmail and instructions were given to cramp the bastard and get him arrested anytime he came around but the bastard never showed up. Why will I choose to live my life in fear biko.
Hycinth
March 21, 00:33Hell Sir, can you please share you
Email contact. I need your services and advice. Thanks
Pink Panther
March 21, 09:56Click on this link https://kitodiaries.com/there-is-an-organizing-to-help-the-queer-community-fight-kito-scum-and-human-rights-violations/
Check for Minority Watch’s contact information. It’s a legal organisation helping with the issues of Nigerian gays. I hope they’re able to help you.
Loki
May 13, 12:56‘Some of the policemen are gay too’.
*sighs. I wonder wat some gay get from attacking oda gays. U are in a position to help ur fellow man but u rather use it to attack him forgetting dat u are like him. I get d fact dat some of dem want to hide dia sexuality but come on u can help by sending messages incognito!!! Until dis victimization ends, i dont tink majority of nigerians will ever accept us.
Derick Rock
May 18, 11:29It’s unfortunate to hear these things. I even have a friend whom they arrested and was made to pay 100k to bail out. He was in his shop when these stupid police men came to arrest him. And the name of the person responsible for that is Osagie odigie on Facebook. A fool who has been asking to meet me since 2yrs now and I’ve refused
Nigeria Should #EndSARS For EVERYONE – KitoDiaries
October 11, 07:36[…] People like the community in Benin who have been hounded and extorted for no crime other than that someone said they’re gay. […]
Opinion | #EndSARS is a huge moment in Nigeria’s queer history - Pehal News
November 06, 05:00[…] Earlier this 12 months, stories circulated that police in Benin City went on a related witch hunt to attempt to discover homosexual males. According to the LGBTQ web site KitoDiaries, police had been making the rounds in Benin City’s homosexual neighborhood and pressuring men to share the contact details of others. […]