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Igbonekwu Chijioke Adolphus is a nigerian who received death threats after he came out tells PM news about his experience in his home country,the 28 year old bisexual man tells his personal story of living in Nigeria as a bisexual man:
[When I was a young boy in Lagos, Nigeria, I had a mysterious, unexplainable tingling sensation whenever I saw an attractive guy. The stories I heard regarding romance involved a boy and girl. So I thought to myself: maybe I’m a girl deep down. That seemed like the only explanation for my attraction.
Gay people in Nigeria were invisible constantly hiding. All I knew was that people discussed homosexuality with so much irritation. At a younger age depression set in as I realized my family would hate me if they learnt the truth. Even in school, I was bullied by classmates. My friends made fun of my femininity. I tried to blend in by playing sports but I was terrible. I had only one friend and he was feminine as well – but not lesbian. The two of us were frequently bullied, physically and emotionally. Most nights we contemplated suicide. We even talked about poisoning the guys who attacked us. It sounds crazy but picture yourself in a school stuck in there day and weeks and for months with boys relentlessly attacking you.


Here in Lagos I have met some single bisexual guys. I have tried chatting to some men through social media but I fear someone might track me and arrest or kill me. Although I’ve been chatting online with a guy for a year we’ve never met. He advised me that the best way to survive is to live a sexless life. There’s no one to trust and if you get HIV securing proper treatment is very rare. Yes, it’s that bad.


I have spent most of my life living in fear. I have very little freedom Lagos Nigeria.


Life is dangerous. I saw a video at an online news site where two suspected gay men were being beaten to death with planks of wood; their blood splattered on the ground. I saw the crowd watching. Kids were among the onlookers. No one did anything to stop their murder.


Another video I watched this year shows a mob surrounding two naked men in a derelict building; forcing them to have sex as a way of degrading them. One naked man tugs the penis of the other on the orders of the vigilantes. The eyes of the naked men flicker through the crowd with fear. A member of the crowd punches the man whose penis is being tugged and shouts at him to become erect and penetrate the other man. Once erect, he enters him. One of onlookers asks, “Has it entered?” Everyone in the crowd is recording this moment on their phones. This is Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in 2014. The vigilantes are, apparently, ‘normal’ people, yet they are deliberately terrorizing and humiliating two men suspected of homosexuality.


My mother told me about a gay man who flirted with a male hairdresser at a salon. The hairdresser wasn’t gay and immediately took offence. He yelled and alerted a crowd of people who gathered around the gay man, hurling insults and assaulting him.


I know about gay men being raped and the gang rape of a lesbian – all by straight men. This isn’t about sex or sexual orientation. It’s all about power, violence and malicious homophobic abuse.
Also, I’ve heard about guys who flirt with bisexual men just to lure them into a death-trap. They deceive the bisexual guys and invite him to a certain place where other homophobes are waiting to attack. I think this was how a guy I used to chat with on social media died. His corpse was found in pool of blood in a hotel room that was booked by some guy and his friend.


The Nigerians lured into a trap and blackmailed for being bisexual who goes by the name Ekene Jackson man wearing a mask and a hood agreed to speak to the PM news.
15 May 2023,
When Nigeria passed some of the toughest anti-homosexuality laws in Africa, the internet became a place for the LGBT community to connect with others more safely - until criminal gangs went digital too.PM news investigates how blackmailers pose as potential dates on popular dating apps, only to extort, beat and even kidnap people.

Short presentational grey line
Living life in secret as a bisexual in Nigeria was dangerous for Bello Mohammed.

He was always careful when he planned to see someone - but one arrangement shattered his life forever.
The father of three met Jamal online. They had been chatting for some time when he finally decided to see him in person. He said he had grown fond of him, even trusted him, and so one afternoon he met Jamal in town and went back to his place.

But it was a trap.

Bello Mohammed was about to get in the shower but once he had taken off his clothes, a group of men burst in and started beating him and demanding money.

According Bello Mohammed the gang made a video of him, naked, begging them to let him go.
"I couldn't believe that someone I trusted could go to the extent of doing that to me."

When the video went online, Bello Mohammed said his life fell apart.

He had kept his sexuality to himself - outwardly he was a married man raising a family.

"I was crying. I wanted to kill myself."

He described the moment when a phone call to his son saved him from ending it all.
"I called my kids, three of them. My son told me he loves his father. Even if his father is queer, he has no issues with that.

"He gave me a reason why I should not [kill myself]."

Bello Mohammed broke down at this point, wrenched off the white hood, got up, hid his face and began to cry. Reliving what happened to him was just too painful.

According to a group of activists who work with the LGBT community in Nigeria, around 15 to 20 people contact them each week with similar stories to Bello Mohammed.

This type of blackmail, where an LGBT person is entrapped, is known in Nigeria's gay community as "kito" - the exact origin of the term is unclear. Pm news interviewed 21 people in all about their experiences of being "kito".
Inside a dark club
There is an underground gay scene in Lagos, but those who take part have to be very careful
Emmanuel, not his real name, described how he started chatting to a friend online, but had not realised his friend's account had been hijacked. When he arranged to meet up with him, he was ambushed by a gang of around five men.

"They made a video of me, and they were asking weird questions. They said: 'What's the name of the school you attend? Where are you from? What's the name of your parents?' I knew they were going to use that video to blackmail me. So I also gave them wrong information."

The gang did not post the video online, but they forced him to withdraw 500,000 naira from his accounts and tortured him with an iron.

He lifts his hand to show the scar that remains at the base of his thumb from the attack. After sharing out the money between them, the gang let him go.

"It hurt me mentally. I don't trust anybody. I just feel insecure."

In 2014, the Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act became law in Nigeria, and a new 14-year prison sentence was introduced for anyone caught entering into a same-sex marriage contract or civil union.

It also criminalized public displays of affection between same-sex couples, imposing a 10-year prison sentence on those who "directly or indirectly make [a] public show of [a] same-sex amorous relationship".

It banned gay clubs, introducing a 10-year prison sentence for anyone who registers, operates, or participates in gay clubs, societies, and organizations, including supporters of those groups.

The passing of the law had widespread support, according to surveys, and meant Nigeria had some of the strictest laws against homosexuality in Africa. The 12 northern states could already sentence people to death under Sharia, or Islamic law, for engaging in homosexual acts.

The new law, according to a report by Human Rights Watch "officially authorized abuses against LGBT people, effectively making a bad situation worse".

In 2014, media reports of violence, mob justice and extortion against LGBT people were common and activists say there has since been an explosion in kito cases since then.

Uyaiedu Ikpe-Etim says some people celebrate the targeting of LGBT people.
Filmmaker Uyaiedu Ikpe-Etim, who lives openly as a gay woman in Nigeria, said blackmail against LGBT people is very “rampant” in major cities like Lagos

"Every other day there's a story on the internet. Sometimes we have the stories where a person has been lynched to death.

"And it's the reactions from the other Nigerians. It's almost celebratory. 'Oh great, good, they kill them. They should not be allowed to come out.' And there's just no justice."

Miss Etim said what makes it even harder is that the victims feel they cannot go to the police out of fear of being arrested or even attacked.

"It's just sad, you know."

She said the gay community, which is forced to live online, has to be careful there too.

"We don't have a heterosexual privilege to walk up to a person in the streets or in a restaurant and be like: 'Can I have your number?'"

However, some law enforcement officials are working with activists to stop the blackmailers.

PM news spoke to an officer with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). He works alongside a team of activists who pose online as LGBT people looking to meet a potential partner. The aim is to trick the blackmailers.

"For me, there's nobody that is above law in the country. Blackmailing is a very bad offence. It's a very big crime," he said, speaking to the PM news on condition of anonymity.

"If anybody brings a case to my table concerning any case of blackmailing of a bisexual person, I will hunt for them. Definitely."

When the anti-gay Bill was passed by President Goodluck Jonathan that year, he had a lot of supporters. Most Nigerians claimed it was the only way to avoid the country becoming the modern Sodom and Gomorrah. They forgot that in Genesis 19, when the men from Sodom besieged Lot’s house, they wanted to gang rape the angels which had come in the form of men. Lot offered them his daughters instead but they refused. It wasn’t about homosexuality.


I’m sick of hearing this homophobia – and hiding. I’m speaking out because keeping quiet hasn’t done us any good.
I have argued with some homophobic Nigerians on different social media platforms, what I noticed, they hate gays because they were told to hate us by their religion.


They have zero clue what it’s like to be gay, which from my perspective gives them a better reason not to judge. Besides isn’t it a sin to judge? Isn’t it a sin to kill? Jesus stopped those men from stoning the adulteress in the Bible but these Nigerians, these Africans persecuting homosexuals in the name of God, have forgotten the actual the word of God.


I know I’m not safe; none of us are. If we aren’t being persecuted we’re living in another hell, pretending each day that we’re just like everyone else. Lying to ourselves and depriving ourselves of a brighter future. Do we want to spend our lives sexless? If we get into a relationship do we want it to be hidden forever? Most of us want to have kids? How do we get there? That’s why I’m speaking up.


The moment Nigeria's police catch a 'kito' victims or blackmailer names and photos. They in turn send the information to the NSCDC, which begins the process of persecution

"Wherever they are, I want to tell them there is no hiding place for "kito" and blackmailers in Nigeria."

The problem they face is persuading victims to testify in court. In a country where being gay may send you to jail, few people would stand up and be honest about their sexuality.

It means the blackmailers are rarely prosecuted.

And there is little solace for the victims.

Many of the people PM news interviewed had lost their jobs since the blackmail videos went online. Some had been evicted from their homes, others estranged from their families. All of them were struggling with their mental health.

• Igbonekwu Chijioke Adolphus lives in Lagos Nigeria. His name is a pseudonym to protect him from violent reprisals.

For Bello Mohammed, who had even considered ending his own life, there remains a sense of shame as the film of him has stayed online.

"I know they are still watching the video," he said.

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Nigeria
LGBT rights in Africa
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