Nigerian Community Banishes Gay Man, Ostracizes Family Members as Police Seek his Prosecution

A Nigerian man of about thirty-five years, Ikechukwu Nkemakolam Jeremiah, has been banished from his community, Umuobasi Ugba in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State, for involvement in gay relationship with threats to lynch him if apprehended.

This is as the community have also ostracized members of his family including his widowed mother, demolished their family house in the process and vowing to apprehend him to answer for his crime and bringing shame to them.

Thirty-five year old Ikechukwu Nkemakolam Jeremiah was said to have escaped after being chased by the community vigilante group who had been spying on him and his illicit activities with some young men from neighbouring community.

According to community sources, the young man has been suspected to be involving in the abominable act since he was a teenager without any concrete evidence to nail him.

However, his proverbial cup is said to have been full sometime in March 2025 when he was caught in the act with his acclaimed lover boy. Efforts to apprehend him proved abortive as he managed to escape with the aid of one of his close friends.

His case has been reported to the law enforcement authorities to effect his arrest to answer for his crime, which could be up to 14 years imprisonment upon conviction according to the Same Sex prohibition act 2014.

As a result, Mr Ikechukwu is reported to have fled and his whereabouts unknown for fear of being killed or imprisoned for alleged violation of the country’s anti-gay law and his involvement in the act.

Nigeria’s Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act was enacted in 2014, during the administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan. The law criminalizes same-sex marriage and public displays of same-sex relationships with prison sentences of up to 14 and 10 years respectively. It also punishes establishing, supporting, and participating in gay organizations with up to 10 years in prison.

The passage of the law has been followed by widespread reports of mob violence against LGBTQ people.

Many communities have engaged in beating up and in most cases lynching gay suspects around them, as a way of ‘cleansing the community of gays.’

Violence against LGBTQ people has not only been perpetrated by private citizens. The Police in Nigeria are also involved in cases of arrest, and detaining of persons accused of Same-Sex relationships.

With the heightened mob violence and police detention targeting LGBTQ individuals, some LGBTQ people in Nigeria have adopted extreme forms of self-censoring to avoid community and police harassment.

LGBTQ individuals avoid associating with other LGBTQ community members, increasing their isolation and, in some cases, eventually compelling them to marry an opposite-sex partner, have children and conform to socially prescribed gender norms.

There is also an increased psychosocial burden on LGBTQ individuals living in Nigeria as a result of the social and legal status of this community.

This psychosocial burden has been conceptualised in the minority stress model, which describes the deleterious health impact of the chronic discrimination that marginalised individuals face due to their stigmatised identities.

As a result, many who could not continue under this pretence are seeking asylum in countries where they can feel comfortable to openly live with their sexual orientation.

Mr Ikechukwu Nkemakolam Jeremiah, seems to fall within this group because his native home is no longer safe while the country’s anti-gay law does not also help his case either.

This is because the village head and the chiefs of his community have vowed to bring him to justice to answer for his crime and to cleanse the land which he was said to have desecrated.