Gay bribe

Nelson Chigozirim. Nigerian police personnel patrol the streets, amid ongoing anti-government gay bribe against bad governance and economic hardship, in Lagos, Nigeria August 4, LAGOS - Walking home from church, John Okafor said he was stopped by Nigerian police, beaten and forced to pay a bribe to avoid arrest for "looking gay.

Lagos police did not respond to a request for comment on the incident, which Okafor said occurred on the evening of September 30 after he left choir rehearsal at his church in the Ojoto district of Nigeria's biggest city. Society hates you, and the police exploit that hate.

The number may be far higher, because most victims do not report police misconduct for fear it will make them targets again in a country that criminalises same-sex relationshipsOlayinka said. Rights defenders say the law has encouraged widespread homophobic abuse and intimidation.

Queer people just have to stomach the mistreatment and injustice, because the duty bearers that we are supposed to report to will weaponise the law against us," Olayinka said. A gay couple pose for a photograph at a club in Lagos, Nigeria, October 27, Allegations of corruption against the Nigerian police force are rampant.

A United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime survey from found that police officers account for more than a third of all bribes paid in Nigeria. An official at the Police Public Complaints Committee PPCCwhich investigates allegations of police abusesaid few complainants file the formal petitions required to investigate.

It happens all the time. The sums of money police allegedly solicit can have "severe financial consequences" on a disadvantaged minority that already is under economic pressurePeter added. Dominic Eche, a trans artisan who uses the pronoun they, told Context, they were arrested with a half-dozen or so friends at a birthday party in April in the city of Calabar in Cross River state.

Police were tipped off by a neighbour who had informed on a "homosexual party" at a friend's apartment, said Eche, While the other detainees had family or friends secure their release by paying money, no one came for Eche on what they described as the worst day of their life.

But Eche knew their rights. The SSMPA stipulates a prison term for individuals caught in a same-sex act and requires evidence be proved in court, said Eche, who was released the following day with the gay bribe of a human rights lawyer. For some, the only way out is leaving Nigeria.

Rita Gay bribe, 31, said she was stopped at a checkpoint in December in Port Harcourt after police spotted her wearing a rainbow-coloured bandana inside a car. The trauma would be too much for me to bear," Francis told Context via text message. Francis moved to Britain soon after the incident to live freely as a lesbian.

Only recently has the sense of panic she would feel at seeing a police vehicle subsided, she said. This story is part of a series supported by Hivos's Free to Be Me programme. How schools are being built for extreme heat - without aircon. Deepfake porn tools bypass safeguards to hide in Apple app store.

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LGBTQ+ Nigerians recount police abuses under 'weaponised' law

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