“I will be killed if I go back to Nigeria.” LGBT homophobic attack victim cries out.

For over a period of 6 months, Umuaka Times reporters tried to establish contacts with Mr Fagbemi Lateef Omotunde who was sometime in 2023 accused of having a carnal knowledge of his fellow man. For some reasons, Fagbemi Lateef Omotunde escaped lynching by whiskers and has since been on the run. Last week, he got across to Umuaka Times and narrated how everything happened. Although he refused to disclose the country he was calling from but the interview was indeed an excellent encounter with a man who is on the run over his sexuality.

Excerpts:

Please tell us your name:

My name is Fagbemi Lateef Omotunde but friends call me FLO.

Where in Nigeria are you from?

I am from the Southwestern part of Nigeria which is Yoruba speaking ethnic group.

What is your occupation?

I am an automobile mechanic.

You said that you have been trying to reach us can you tell us why?

Yes sir.

Ok we are here with you. So what is the problem?

My problem is plenty. The truth is that I want you guys to see how you can use your contacts and assist the LGBTI community in Nigeria. They are going through hell. My case is a good example of hell.

Why did you say so?

I am using my personal experience and trauma to judge.

So what happened to you?

My case is complex. I am on the run from Nigeria as a result of my sexuality. Sometime in 2023, my friend and I who is late now were arrested by some youths when we were inside his car in a garage kissing each other.

What happened thereafter?

The youths started beating us. They were even trying to set us ablaze but something seriously bad happened. My friend, who was caught with me when the beating was unbearable for him, managed to gain access to his car and drove off from the scene. While escaping, an oncoming trailer had a head-on collision with his car and he died on the spot.

Really? That is tragic indeed. Please what is the name of your friend?

For some reasons, I will not mention his name. Please let’s focus this interview on me more than others.

Ok when your friend drove away and was knocked down what happened to you then?

There was confusion everywhere. People started to shout and all the attention shifted on him then. I was almost going to help before a friend told me to escape from the scene. By that time, nobody knew that he had died. Then I escaped.

So what part of Lagos did this happen?

It happened at Surulere near an area called Ojo Elegba.

So what happened to you later?

As I escaped, I later found out that they have gone to my workshop and scattered my workshop where I used to fix cars. They stole my tools and were about to set the whole place on fire before one elderly man told them not to do so because the vehicles parked at the workshop would be affected by the fire.

So when you escaped, where did you run to?

I just rushed to my residence and took some cloths and some other things and ran away to another part of Lagos.

Why were you on the run?

That is a funny question. To carry out a mob action in and lynch the person is a common thing in Nigeria especially if you are accused of being a gay man.

Since that day where have you been staying?

Under hiding, I stayed for just 2 days in Lagos and I realized that I have been declared wanted by the youths of my community either dead or alive; I had to leave Lagos for a nearby country called Benin Republic.

What did your family do when they heard about the incident?

My family did not in any way help matters at all.

How?

You know I am from a seriously Muslim family and you know very well, what the Holy Quran said about a man lying with another man.

I do not know; please say it.

According to Muslim laws, any man who lies with his fellow man should be put to death.

But you said you and your friend were just kissing and yet to engage sexually before you were arrested by the youths.

Nobody will ask you that. Did you forget that mob actions do not work with reasoning? That is why it is called jungle justice. The people are the accusers, the judges and the executors of the jungle judgment and justice.

So continue with your family.

Yes my family is a totally Muslim family and nobody in the family will defend or support me if they hear of my sexuality.

 Did the youths go to your family?

Yes. The next day after I had escaped, they went to where I was living singing war songs in search of me but unknown to them, I had escaped already.

So what did your family do?

My family supported them 100 percent and even placed a fatwa (death sentence) on my head.

Ok your friend who died, what did his family do?

His family, my family, the youths and even the police were looking for me.

Why were they looking for you? To undergo trial or what?

Never! They were looking for me to kill me because of my involvement with my partner who died.

So where are you now? Are you still in Benin Republic?

No. I have moved. I did not stay more than 2 weeks in Benin Republic.

Why?

Africa is still not developed; daily I was seeing some Lagos people who used to visit Benin Republic for commercial purposes. I knew some of them and they also knew my story. One day I reasoned that if I do not leave, they may get hold of me and lynch me in Benin Republic or even bundle me back to Nigeria illegally and kill me.

So when you left Benin Republic where did you go?

I went to Togo.

Is that where you are now?

No.

So where are you?

For security reasons, let’s not go there please.

So you said you need help. How?

Yes I do. I am very lucky to escape. Some others were not as lucky as I was and they were killed in similar circumstances. I cannot go back to Nigeria again at least in the next 5 years or more. Unless I want to die.

Why?

They will definitely kill me.

But that is taking the laws into one’s hands.

Nobody will see it that way. Nigeria is a crime scene where the law is not the law.

So what is your final message to us?

My final message now is that my life is in total danger. I am wanted by my family, the family of my late partner, my religion, the youths of my community and the authorities for engaging in sexual activity with a fellow man. I can’t set my feet in Nigeria again unless I want to die.

Let me take you back a little. You said you and your friend were arrested for gay related activity, were you and your friend sleeping together before that particular day of of the tragic incident?

Yes. Several times.

Lets assume you did not run away, what do you think could have happened to you?

By now I would have been dead. Do you know how many gays in Nigeria that have lost their lives in similar circumstances?

Can you tell us why since Nigeria signed the anti-gay bill into law, why is it that nobody has been imprisoned?

I do not know and I am not in the position to answer that question. All I know is that they may not have arrested and jailed anybody but many have lost their lives through mob actions and the government is doing nothing about that.

Finally what is your advice for Nigeria?

They should repeal the anti-gay laws. The last time I checked, Nigeria had bigger problems concerning the economy, insecurity and shortage of food and medical facilities. It is very funny that they left all these problems and came to talk about LGBTI issues as if they were the reasons the country has failed to develop.

Mr. Fagbemi Lateef Omotunde, thank you very much for your time.

Thank you sir.