Homophobic Attack Victim Thanks God for His Life.
7 min read
For Obidimma Favour Ahanna, a highly discreet member of the LGBT community in Imo State Nigeria, the worst place a member of the community would ever live in the world is perhaps in Nigeria; “As far as someone has an identity of sexual minority in the country, he is prone to public condemnations, unlimited discrimination and mob attacks by both the state and non-state actors.” Mr Obidimma, a Nigerian gay man in his mid-30s, disclosed this to Umuaka Times after he narrowly escaped from a mob attack in Orlu by the youths of his community and family members. He further narrated to Umuaka Times that without the help of a local commercial motorcycle operator who took him to safety, he would have been a dead man some months ago.
Although Umuaka Times was reliably informed that there have been no previous suspicions about the sexuality of Obidimma Favour Ahanna by family and friends, but an encounter with the police which took place in Nneni town of Anambra State in early February 2024, totally changed the narrative. On this day which Mr Obidimma described as the worst day of his life, he saw hell in the hands of some policemen on patrol just because of x-rated internet pictures found in his phone by the police. Umuaka Times investigations showed that policemen in Nigeria exclusively display more aggressive disposition and hostilities to Nigerian youths and teenagers when arrested on the suspicion of LGBT related issues. The moment this suspicion is upheld, the arrested fellow is already considered a criminal and may most likely be subjected to all forms of torture and extortions.
Obidimma told Umuaka Times that trouble started for him on Friday February 2, 2024 as he was returning from Anambra State. According to him, on the said day, a team of police officers on patrol stopped the bus he was travelling with and ordered him to come down for a search. As the youngest passenger in the bus, he was the only person the police wanted to search on the suspicion that he was a “Yahoo boy”. A search conducted in his bag and the pockets of his jeans trouser could not establish anything incriminating or illegal. Stil, they refused to let him go. The police officers according to him were more interested to extort money from him than to let him go. To achieve this, they held on to him and kept on pretending that he was a crime suspect. This move or inaction was described by Obidimma as a delay tactics employed by the police in order to make him part ways with his hard earned money.
In his own words, he narrated the scene thus; “I told them to allow me join the bus and continue my journey because it was getting late but they refused. One of them asked me if I had my android phone with me. I said yes. I was then ordered to bring out the phone for a search. I obliged and handed over the phone to him.”
A Nigerian gay man taking the worst risk of his life.
From the findings of Umuaka Times, the police on patrol and checkpoints in Nigeria don’t respect the privacy of the phones of their suspects, not considering the fact that it is illegal to search their phones except on absolutely reasonable suspicion. Obidimma was then ordered to open the phone for a search. It was here that the bubble burst! While going through the pictures in the phone, they police officers found some sexually suggestive gay images in the photo gallery. Obidimma was then taken to a police station for questioning.
What initially seemed like a small matter gradually gathered momentum as Obidimma bluntly refused to bail himself out with some money demanded by the police. More search in the phone showed more “harmful” and sexually explicit gay images. For two days, Obidimma was detained without food or water over a non- existent offence.
Tired and absolutely helpless, Obidimma had no other option than to appeal to the police to allow him reach out to his family for assistance and assure them that he was still alive as nobody had heard from him in the last 48 hours. For this request to be granted, he disclosed to Umuaka Times that he had to part ways with some substantial amount of money.
According to him, on the third day, his family came looking for him but before they could arrive the station, he had to call someone who made a deal with the police and he was let off the hook before the arrival of his family members. “I had to do this because it would be a double portion of hell for me if my family had known about my sexuality while I was still in the police custody,” he told Umuaka Times. A confirmation was later established that Obidimma’s family members later got the gist of all that transpired between their son and the police and hell was eventually let loose.
As a deeply religious family, Obidimma’s family members strongly believed that their son’s association with LGBT images is not only a gift from the devil but a serious dent on their Christian integrity. The family then decided to do away with him. He was made to undergo severe torture and was eventually locked up by the family for three days without food or water. With the help of the house help, he managed to escape on the fourth day.
Determined to teach him some lessons of his life, the family involved the youths of the community to get him either dead or alive in order to commence proper torture. More than a week later, he was captured live during an all-night church service in a faraway town and was immediately whisked away by the youths. Another round of torture and beating began again. “I thought it was over for me because I lost consciousness during the general beating. I really thank God I never sustained brain injuries nor lost my eyes during the ordeal. I don’t even know how I was rescued.”
The truth now according to Obidimma is that his family has disowned him; his straight friends have also abandoned him and deleted his number from their phones and warned him never to reach out to him again in his entire life. The community on her own part has banished him from entering the village as tradition demands because according to them, the poor boy is possessed by the evil spirit. Besides all these, Obidimma has some other challenges; “I have nobody to run to. As a gay man, Nigeria was honestly no longer safe for me and I managed to escape. Nobody cares to listen to you when you are accused of being a member of the LGBT community in Nigeria. You are already a condemned criminal awaiting execution.”
Asked why he never sought refuge in the hands of the police after the ordeal, his answer was a sort of indictment; “That is a funny question sir. How can you ask Jesus to seek refuge in the hands of Judas or take an antelope to a lion for protection? That will make the case more troublesome for me. They will not only torture me but they will also extort money from me.”
Umuaka Times managed to speak with a family member of Mr Obidimma who was very angry over the integrity damage from their son. He was so blunt in his response: “Ahanna is a useless son of the family and we never knew all these years. He has ceased being a member of our family and that was why none of us bothered to visit him at the hospital when the youths beat him up. We have notified the youths to deal with him without measures anywhere they see him. In fact, nothing is ruled out while dealing with him.”
From other information Umuaka Times reporters obtained concerning the LGBT community in Nigeria, since the former President Goodluck Jonathan passed the Anti-Gay Bill into law in 2014, persecution, torture, gross human rights abuses and murder have continued to trail the community members in different corners of the country. Prominent among the challenges the community faces in the country are not limited to extreme violence, social stigma and highly unimaginable discrimination both at private and public places.
The Southeastern state of Imo has maintained a no holds barred position as one of the “torture chambers” for suspected LGBT members. The state is perhaps highest in the persecution of LGBT persons by state and non- state actors. According to a local attorney who did not want his name mentioned in print while speaking with Umuaka Times on the issue of LGBT crises in the state, “Imo State is a home of internalized homophobic attacks and deprivations. Consider yourself dead or half dead if you are a gay man in this state. They are evil people. We do not need them here.”
For Obidimma Favour Ahanna who is currently into hiding, he is lucky to be alive to narrate his ordeal by himself. It was not so for many others. Despite being disowned by family and friends and marked for death, Obidimma still had time to thank God for sparing his life. For others like him, there are still many rivers to cross for the members of the outlawed LGBT country in the country. The question is; how many of them will be alive to cross the rivers if they will ever get there? Only time will tell.
