Two suspected homosexuals have been arrested and the hotel has been cordoned off while investigations continue. They are being held by the Lagos State Task Force and will soon be brought to justice,” he said.A resident of the area, who identified himself as wala, told the newspaper that the police arrested the suspects at about 3.30pm on 8 June 2023.He added that this was not the first time the hotel had housed homosexuals.The arrested suspects are Mr Timothy Ebube, 25, from Owerri North Local Government Area and Mr Amos Roxwell Ola, 29, from Ikere Local Government Area of Ekiti State.
Timothy Ebube, when questioned on how he became gay, confessed to the Lagos State Police that he started having an affair with Mr Melvin Omokhafe Ogbedebi, from Edo State, who first introduced him to homosexuality. (Grindr) in November 2018 and approached her with a chat message to be his partner.In June 2019, the Edo State Police Command found Mr Melvin Omokhafe Ogbedebi guilty of homosexuality with Late Musa Ibrahim, from Reno Local Government Area of Kano State, At the scene of the incident, Mr. Musa Ibrahima was beaten by the angry youths of Aiyegunle community in Akoko Edo Local Government Area of Ếtate of Edo, but died before he could be taken to an undisclosed hospital, but Mr Melvin Omokhafe Ogbedebi escaped before security personnel reached the scene of the crime.Mr Melvin Omokhafe Ogbedebi has been on the police wanted list since June 2019, when the Edo State Police Command said he was wanted for homosexuality, the Lagos State police spokesman said.
Nigeria is one of the countries that prohibit homosexuality.At a workshop held in June, Garba Abari, Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), expressed his sadness at the cases of homosexuality reported in the country.”The wearing of tattoos, dreadlocks, sagging trousers and hair painting have become a fashion among our young men and women”, he said. Under the Nigerian Penal Code, people detained on charges of being homosexual can face up to 14 years in prison. While LGBTQ+ Nigerians have always been criminalised under colonial-era bans on same-sex sexual relations, the situation has become more fragile in recent decades. In 2013, Nigeria strengthened its ban on homosexuality by passing the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act (SSMPA). While the name of the law suggests that it is only about marriage equality, its scope is actually much broader. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the law prohibits same-sex couples from cohabiting and bans any form of “public demonstration of a loving relationship between persons of the same sex”. It also prohibits LGBTQ+ organisations from operating openly in the country.According to some reports, police violence against Nigeria’s LGBTQ+ community has increased dramatically in the eight years since the law came into force.In May 2023, at least 47 people accused of being gay were arrested after a police raid on a birthday party, during which attendees allegedly engaged in “homosexual initiation”. Although a judge finally released the men last year, their case was dropped due to a lack of responsiveness from the prosecution, instead of a full acquittal. This means that those charged could be re-arrested at any time for the same allegations.The persecution of LGBTQ+ Nigerians has particularly intensified under the presidency of anti-gay leader Ahmed Bola Tinubu, according to the Initiative for Equal Rights (TIER), a human rights group based in the country. According to a 2022 report, 643 human rights violations were recorded in the past year, despite the low reporting rate among transgender, intersex and female people.The Lagos State Police Command informed the media on June 9, 2023, in Ikeja Lagos State, the police spokesman said that the two suspects will be immediately charged with persecution, which is punishable by law, 14 years imprisonment under Nigerian law, The command also said that Mr. Melvin Omokhafe Ogbedebi, who has been on the run since June 2019, will be hunted down and arrested to face the law, the police said it is working with other deputy security agencies in the country to ensure that there is no escape for the fugitive suspect, Mr. Melvin Omokhafe Ogbedebi.The command also announced the arrest of a serial rapist, Onuorah Obi, of No 1, Buari Oloto Street, Ago Okota, on June 6, 2023.The victim, ‘f, 25, of Ago Okota, said the suspect raped her and recorded nude photos and videos of her.”The police swung into action and arrested the suspect. A search was carried out,” the command said.The command appeals to well-meaning Nigerians to report Mr Melvin Omokhafe Ogbedebi to the nearest Ếtate of Police, wherever he may be in the country
.