By Ishaya Ibrahim
Acting News Editor
Jonah Akpo, a resident of Ajegunle, a Lagos suburb in Nigeria, survived mob attack on January 27, 2018, on suspicion that he was gay, a charge he denied.
His attackers later claimed that they had heard rumours that he was gay. When the police arrived the scene, they were all gone.
In Nigeria, there are no official statistics on the prevalence of mob lynching, also known as jungle justice. But media reports suggest it’s a regular occurrence.
A survey revealed that 43 percent of Nigerians had personally witnessed a mob attack arising from suspicion of being a thief or homosexual, a trend that has gained traction after the Nigerian government criminalised same sex relationship on January 7, 2014.
Former Maritme Correspondent with the Daily Independent Newspaper, Andrew Airahuobhor, had escaped lynching in the hands of mob for daring to criticise the extrajudicial killings of homosexuals in Bauchi State on his blog, naijakini.com.
In the article, he queried: “Are thieves, corrupt leaders morally justified in criminalizing gay relationships?”
He said that he was shocked that days after publishing the article, three men accosted him at Apapa area of Lagos State and roughened him.
According to him, “They threatened to beat me to death for publishing that “thrash”. “I do not have to be a gay to support gay rights to life,” he said.
Airahuobhor fled the country to the United States for his safety.
