The Nigerian Police Force is in the news for
The news has not caught the attention of foremost LGBT rights activist Bisi Alimi. He has made his feelings known about the arrest on his Facebook page.
His tone was definitely of rebuke and distaste at the actions of the Nigerian Police Force, backed up by terrible claims as, “Gay initiation party.”
In his post, Alimi, now happily to his partner said, “People have parties in Lagos everyday. Sometimes the parties have more men than women and sometimes more women than men. The idea that there is a “gay party” or a “gay initiation party” is nothing but lack or responsibilities from the part of our police and government.”
To underline the outrage of the event and the many questionable circumstances around the event, Alimi continued that, “Those innocent people are a victim of their poverty. Whether they are gay or not is not the issue, the issue is, they are poor and they will pay the highest price for being poor in a country that celebrate stolen wealth.”
While the actions of the Nigerian Police Force seems questionable, we prefer to let the evidence reveal that angle.
In related news, on Tuesday, August 28, 2018, Pulse reports that Presidential Aspirant for the 2019 presidential election, Donald Duke, says even though he would protect homosexual people, he is not comfortable with the idea of them showing love in public.
The former Cross River State governor said this during his interview on “On The Couch”anchored by entertainer, Folarin Falana, aka Falz, and journalist, Laila Johnson-Salami.
Even though he was not specifically asked about homosexuality in Nigeria, Duke offered to express his thoughts on the country’s stance on it.
According to him, he doesn’t understand homosexuality, but he would offer protection to gay people and not criminalise them. However, he said he is uncomfortable with public display of affection by homosexual people and would be against such in the country.
He said, “I don’t understand it (homosexuality) because I’m straight, the emotional feelings a gay person would have of their sexuality, I don’t understand it, but I would not criminalise them.
I would ensure that they have the protection of the law but if they want to exhibit their sexuality, that’s an affront on the current norms of society.
“I arrived at New York and went through the airport, and at the passenger rank, two guys came together and were kissing. Keep it in your house. I’m sorry.
“I’m talking about the norms of society. The day you try and kiss me, the slap I’ll slap you ehn. Don’t even try it.
“You cannot jettison the norms of society. There are certain things you’ll do in America or in England or Nigeria that you cannot do in Saudi Arabia, for instance, and you’ve got to respect the norms of the society.
“So when you’re in Rome, behave like the Romans. Don’t swim against the tide because we’re not there.”
When asked if he would appoint a gay person to his cabinet if he was elected president, he said that was not his business as long as the person can perform duties of office. These revelations alone underline how things might change from arresting 57 gay men to celebrating them come 2019. For now, we wait.