Two Homosexual Men Escape Lynching in Enugu; When Will Government Begin to Take Responsibility for the Attacks?

There is a shocking rise of attack against homosexual men in Nigeria.

Recently, two men narrowly escaped being lynched by a mob in Enugu in southeast of Nigeria, and it is because of the police officers who stormed the scene in time, just as an irate mob prepared to set them ablaze at the Coal Camp area of the state.

According to Punch, the men, 32-year-old Orji Odinaka and 22-year-old Ejineme Nonso were accused by two young men who alleged that the duo approached them for homosexual relations.

In a chat with Punch, the Police Public Relations Officer, Enugu State Police Command, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, said that Odinaka, a bus driver, was ambushed by the mob after a barrow pusher named Sunday, said Odinaka accosted him in a room.

According to Amaraizu:

“The boy raised the alarm, a development which attracted people in the area. 

Nonso, who was alleged to be Odinaka’s accomplice in the gay practice, was also accosted by the mob after another boy, Chimezie, revealed that Nonso had been threatening him for refusing to succumb to his homosexual advances.“

Amaraizu added that the men were stripped naked and were rescued and taken into the custody of the Enugu Central Police Station.

For Odinaka, he told the police that his wife left him after discovering his sexual preference, adding that he had since been seeking ‘cure’ for his proclivity by visiting ‘men of God’ to pray him out of his natural preference.

For Nonso, he allegedly told to the police that “he had left the homosexual practice until he saw the boy, Chimezie, who reported him to the irate mob.”

Save for the quick action of the police officers, Nigeria would have recorded more deaths of homosexual people killed on our streets.

But when will the Nigerian government begin to take responsibility for these violent attacks?

Prior to 2014, Nigerians were deeply concerned about surviving the economy, but it all changed after our incompetent legislature unified in a record-breaking short time to pass into law the homophobic bill that changed everything.

Today, Nigerians are burdened with not only eking out a living in the failing economy, but also fishing out members of society – Homosexual men and women- whom they would crush to death. The mob lynchings are carried out based on hearsay and victims are hardly given the opportunity of defending themselves or allowed to even challenge their maltreatment in a court of law.

While the Enugu police officers get a thumbs up for saving two lives, the homophobic law, in essence, has armed Nigerians with a machete to lynch its citizens, as no member of such violent mobs has been charged with murder/attempted murder.

Perhaps it’s time the government begin to retrace its steps by first making such mob attacks on homosexuals a crime?

OJPals, what do you think? Sound off below!

@OJ’s Blog EXCLUSIVE

Email: olumidejohnson.blogs@gmail.com