The rising spate of homosexual relationships across the country took a dangerous turn last week as a mob almost lynched a gay man caught in the act.
The incident took place at No. 24, Lawal Adeola Street, Gojere, opposite Nigerian Army Cantonment, Ojo, in Oriade Local Council Development Area of Lagos State, where Basil Onyejegbu was caught by his elder brother, Ikechukwu Onyejegbu, having sex with his male partner, John Udom.
Nigeriacrime.com learned that Basil Onyejegbu, a home/industrial painter in his early 50s who hailed from Umuezeabu village, Ichi, Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State, recently packed into the compound with his wife and six children from Maiduguri, Borno State, where they escaped from a Boko Haram attack.
Reports said that Basil engaged in the act after he had earlier in the day seen his wife off at Mazamaza Motor Park as she travelled out of town and he never expected that Ikechukwu would visit him later that day. His brother caught him red-handed having sex with a male partner and he raised the alarm, waking up neighbours in the compound.
Narrating the incident, Simon Akpan, one of the neighbours, said the noise woke them up and Ikechukwu explained how he caught Basil having sex with a man when he entered the room while the kids were asleep, but pleaded with them to forgive his brother, saying it was an abomination in his community for a man to have sex with a fellow man.
He recalled that Basil did a similar thing on April 5, 2023, and was caught, but they did not report him to the elders of the community Umuezeabu because the family would have been ostracized, hence he begged the neighbours not to report the case to the police and promised that his brother would never indulge in the act again.
However, as soon as Basil accepted to have had homosexual relations with John the neighbours got angry and started beating him because, according to them, Nigerian law prohibited same-sex relationships. In the process, Basil narrowly escaped being lynched. He and John got away from his assailants, scaled the fence and ran for their lives, and since then he has not returned home.
Meanwhile, Hon.Jubril Rufai, a former councillor in the area, led the neighbours in the morning to the Onireke Police Division and reported the matter to the Divisional Police Officer, Olarenwaju Smith. The DPO ordered his men to apprehend Basil and John and bring them to the station.
However, at the time of filing this report, the whereabouts of Basil and John were not known.