The three men above were stripped naked and allegedly
beaten on Monday January 14th, in Ekwe, near Umuka in Njaba Local Government
Area of Imo State for supposedly being homosexuals.
A group, the Nigeria HIV Info, dedicated to the protection of the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS, sent out a statement alerting people about the incident and condemning the act.
A group, the Nigeria HIV Info, dedicated to the protection of the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS, sent out a statement alerting people about the incident and condemning the act.
In the statement signed by the group's cordinator, Steve Aborisade, the group said it has “reliably confirmed and authenticated the incident and of the identity of one of the men.”
Mr. Aborisade called on security agents to respond to the plight of the men.
“As it is, only the perpetrators and the community can tell
the whole world what has become of these men who were seriously beaten up,
stripped naked and paraded around the community bounded together like animals
on allegation that they were caught having sex together,” Mr. Aborisade said.
Mr. Aborisade said a reliable source “reliably confirmed
that the men were yet to be released from the location where they are being
held in Umuka, Njaba Local Government Area of Imo State.”
The group appealed to the Imo State Governor, Rochas
Okorocha, to intervene to save the lives of the men.
“While acknowledging that several Nigerians find the
practice of homosexuality strange and unnatural, we also realize that it does
not confer a license to trample on the rights of people who engages in it, with
the sort of inhuman treatment that was meted out to these them.
“So many informed commentators, including Nobel Prize
winner, Prof Wole Soyinka have commented on the scientifically proven fact that
more than anything, gays are just victims of biology,” the group said.
Mr. Aborisade said instead of being singled out for
harassment and prosecution, sexual minorities deserve support and access to
sexual health services that they lack as citizens of this country.
He said sexual minorities “remain a high risk group to
HIV/AIDS infection, yet it is a community that has been denied of all access to
life saving HIV/AIDS services.”
“We suggest that our parliamentarians should devote equal
energy at fishing out and punishing our treasury thieves who are doing more
harm to the continued survival of our nation instead of dissipating energy on
an issue that borders on private morality.
“We enjoin other rights group to show solidarity and ensure
that the rights of sexual minorities are protected like other marginalised
groups in the country,” Mr. Aborisade said.
I wonder y a man will prefer his felow man to a woman. God is totaly against it, so there's no way or it shld be accepted in our country
ReplyDeleteIk. I have reacted to this horrible act. The
ReplyDeleteact of disgracing them this way is worse
than whatever they did. Below is my
response to a previous post: People, you
are getting this wrong. These people
deserve pity not disgrace as has been done. Do you know that just as you and I did not
select our own prefence for a sex style, so
also did they not select their preference
style. It is just like that in them, just like it
is like that in us. They need help
(psychiatric) for prefering this type of sex style. Disgracing them like this will not stop
this social malaise. As they are being
molested, others may be doing their own
some where. The Western world that
colonised us have tried to fight it all in vain
and after they realised that they might be tampering with people's human right's,
they decided to ignore them and accept
them in society. Some of them have tv
reality shows which you and I watch and
enjoy. That is what we should do in Nigeria
so that this malaise by a few does not disrupt our business. Has this been
officially declared a crime? If you catch an
armed robber or a murderer and ask him,
do you know you have committed a crime,
he will yes, but if you ask these people,
they might tell you they did not. They are only responding to their feelings and the
community is disgracing them. If they
committed a crime, hand them over to the
police. What have you done to those who
stole your money in trillions of Naira? What
have you done to those killing Christians any how? What have you done to those
who kidnap your people? What have you
done to armed robbers? Umu Igbo juo nu
onwe unu ajuju. All those people following
the naked men should go and get
themselves something doing instead of going to lay traps for homosexuals.This
thing is rampant in the North and the
Northerners ignore them and life goes on
there. What is your own umu Igbo? I cry for
you o, honestly!
@ Ada. do u know that homosexual is a sin b4 God &
ReplyDeletean abomination? In d north a boy died of it,
d issue of legalising it should nt b
e mentioned at all or left 2 do what dey
want. Dear, dat act is irretating, disgusting
& demonic. I believe if u find some1 close 2 u in it u wount be happy at all.
D act may b......., am nt also sayin dat dey
ReplyDeleteshould b treated d way dey did, but is a bad
act and should b stoped. Period.
@Baby girl Chi Chi, it is a sin punishable by
ReplyDeleteGod not man. God Himself destroyed Sodom
and Gohmorrah, not man. What good does
it do us to parade naked man or women?
Yes I agree with you that it is a bad act and
should be stopped. I hope we have the capacity to stop it because it has to do with
the inner feeling of humans. Read my post
agin.
@ Nda ada - " If you catch an
ReplyDeletearmed robber or a murderer and ask him,
do you know you have committed a crime,
he will say yes, but if you ask these people,
they might tell you they did not. They are
only responding to their feelings and the community is disgracing them. If they
committed a crime, hand them over to the
police." I so much subscribe to ur idea . U
made real sense in ur comment . But d
problem we ve here is d society . The black
man society will never live to see homosexuality actualized. Ok a typical
instance is d Anglican church . In UK they
oked it , but d same church in Naija did nt
ok it . Am not even talking abt pope cos I
know he will nt ok it . But in all I agree with u. Its an ill
punishable by only God and not man.
@Chichi. Stripping those people is d worst
ReplyDeletething cos it will do no good . Any ds matter
is more than religion . Religion cannot
resolve it . We just ve to let dem be. D
matter is a very sensitive one . Its just like
u having a very young teenage sister or daughter [ not son O! Lol] dat is
promiscuous , stripping her and beating
her will nt make her stop rather I think it
will ignite her to do more.
IK, I like what you said 'We just ve to let
ReplyDeletethem be'. That is what they have done
abroad and their life goes on. It is better to
ignore them and pretend they don't exist.
You see nobody learns how to practise
homosexuality. It is in you, inborn. They don't enjoy the other style just like we
abhor their style. Even if you like kill them,
others will still practise it because they
can't help it.
No body has the right to purnish
ReplyDeletethem,people take pleasure in doing what is
supposed to be let to God to judge.Let
them be and continue to pray for
them.They may not be the worst of all
those people following them and mocking them.Like Ada said,they need to be
pitied,they dont have power over chosing
thier sexuality except God intervevnes.
My prayer, is dat God ll deliver as many dat r
ReplyDeleteinvolve in such demonic act in Jesus name.
@ Nda Ada i hear u ma lol, Nda Ik, its true.