LGBTI

In Nigeria, same-sex marriage is prohibited and both national and Islamic criminal law criminalise sex between individuals of the same sex. Also, members of the LGBTI community do not enjoy legal protection against discrimination. However, several studies indicated that social attitudes towards LGBTI individuals have slightly improved over the past years. There was little opportunity for LGBTI people to express their sexual orientation or gender identity, despite NGOs and the wider community creating a number of safe spaces in major cities. Various sources indicated that the socio-economic situation of LGBTI individuals largely determines to what extent they can survive in Nigerian society. The following sections will discuss the situation of LGBTI individuals in more detail and will distinguish between different subgroups as far as possible.

561 Confidential source, 25 November 2020.

562 Confidential source, 25 November 2020.

563 Confidential source, 12 November 2020.

564 Confidential source, 28 February 2020; Premium Times, EXCLUSIVE: Boko Haram War: Nigerian Army suspends voluntary retirement of soldiers, 5 April 2020. Premium Times, Nigerian Army faces morale crisis as 356 soldiers exit over “loss of interest”, 11 July 2020.

565 Premium Times, Nigerian Army faces morale crisis as 356 soldiers exit over “loss of interest”, 11 July 2020;

Sahara Reporters, Nigerian Army Dismisses 300 Soldiers For Desertion, Absence Without Leave, 31 July 2020;

Onuoha, F et al, Counterinsurgency operations of the Nigerian military and Boko Haram insurgency: expounding the viscid manacle, Security Journal, pp. 401-226, February 2020.

566 Nigeria, Armed Forces Act, Section 60.

567 Premium Times, Nigerian Army Declares 22 Soldiers Wanted for ‘Running’ from Boko Haram, 3 October 2019.

568 Premium Times, Nigeria Army to Court Martial 70 Soldiers, 7 November 2019.

569 The Punch, Metele attack: Army dismisses eight soldiers accused of desertion, 14 July 2019; Sahara Reporters, Nigerian Army Dismisses 300 Soldiers For Desertion, Absence Without Leave, 31 July 2020; Premium Times, Nigerian Army removes commander who complained of Boko Haram attack on troops, 31 March 2020.

Criminalisation of homosexuality

As described in the previous report, the rights of the LGBTI community in Nigeria are restricted in various ways. The Criminal Code criminalises sexual intercourse between two men⁵⁷⁰ as well as acts of ‘indecency’ between two men.⁵⁷¹ In addition, the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act (SSMPA) has been in force since 2014. Under this law, a marriage or civil union between two persons of the same sex is prohibited and penalties are provided for the solemnisation and witnessing thereof. In addition, this law prohibits attendance of gay clubs and the public expression of a same-sex amorous relationship.⁵⁷² Islamist law in force in northern Nigeria prohibits same-sex sexual acts between men and between women.⁵⁷³

Social attitudes towards LGBTI individuals

Social attitudes towards LGBTI individuals remained predominantly negative, but showed improvement compared to a few years ago. In a global survey of social attitudes toward homosexuality by the Pew Research Centre, 91% of Nigerian respondents believed that homosexuality should not be accepted.⁵⁷⁴ Seven percent of the respondents stated that homosexuality should be accepted. This was six percent more than in 2013.⁵⁷⁵ A comparison of biennial perception surveys from 2015, 2017 and 2019 by The Initiative for Equal Rights (TIER), a Nigerian NGO that champions the interests of the LGBTI community,⁵⁷⁶ confirms this trend. In 2019, 60% of those surveyed indicated that they would not accept an LGBTI family member. In 2017 the figure was 83%. With regard to the SSMPA, 75% of respondents in 2019 indicated that they supported this legislation. In 2017 the figure was 90%, and in 2015 it was 87%. In 2019, 74% of those surveyed said they were in favour of a 14-year prison sentence for having a gay relationship; in 2017 the figure was 91% and in 2015 it was 87%.⁵⁷⁷ Religious background is not a determining factor in the degree to which Nigerians accept or reject homosexuality.

Research has indicated that acceptance of the LGBTI community is very low among both Christians (6%) and Muslims (8%) in Nigeria.⁵⁷⁸ According to the 2019 TIER survey, the South-West has the lowest acceptance of gay family members and the highest support for the SSMPA.⁵⁷⁹

Results of TIER perception survey 2017 and 2019

2015 2017 2019

% of respondents that would not

accept an LGBTI family member 87% 83% 60%

% of respondents in favour of a 14-year prison sentence for having a homosexual relationship

87% 91% 74%

% of respondents supporting the

SSMPA 87% 90% 75%

570 Nigeria, Criminal Code Act, Section 214.

571 Nigeria, Criminal Code Act, Section 217.

572 Nigeria, Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act, 2014.

573 The Human Dignity Trust, Nigeria, last accessed 23 December 2020.

574 Pew Research Center, The Global Divide on Homosexuality Persists, p. 7, 25 June 2020. The Pew Research Center is an independent American think tank and public opinion polling firm based in Washington, D.C. It provides information on social issues, public opinion and demographic trends shaping the United States and the world. It has its own website: https://www.pewresearch.org/.

575 Pew Research Center, The Global Divide on Homosexuality Persists, p. 18, 25 June 2020.

576 TIER has its own website: https://theinitiativeforequalrights.org/.

577 The Initiative for Equal Rights, Social Perception Survey on Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender Persons Rights in Nigeria, June 2019; The Initiative for Equal Rights, Social Perception Survey on Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender Persons Rights in Nigeria, May 2015; The Initiative for Equal Rights, Social Perception Survey on Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender Persons Rights in Nigeria, January 2017.

578 Pew Research Center, The Global Divide on Homosexuality Persists, p. 15, 25 June 2020.

579 The Initiative for Equal Rights, Social Perception Survey on Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender Persons Rights in Nigeria, p. 14, June 2019.

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An increase in the number of reports of human rights violations and serious cases of discrimination by the authorities and fellow citizens

TIER registered 330 incidents in which the rights of 397 LGBTI people (or individuals who were mistaken for LGBTI people) were violated in 2019.⁵⁸⁰ This represented an increase in the number of reported incidents on the previous two reporting periods:

TIER reported 210 incidents between December 2016 and November 2017,⁵⁸¹ and 213 incidents between December 2017 and November 2018.⁵⁸² TIER also identified an increase in reports of organised attacks against LGBTI people and instances of premeditated violence.⁵⁸³ In 2019, TIER described incidents in which both men and women were subject to serious, violent human rights violations such as assault, torture and rape. The most commonly reported form of aggression against LGBTI individuals was blackmail and extortion.⁵⁸⁴

Gay and bisexual men are more likely to be victims of discrimination and violence in the public space

Several sources implied that men who identify as LGBTI are more stigmatised and are more frequently victims of violence. Figures from TIER show that more reports of violence against LGBTI individuals during the reporting period came from gay men: of the 397 victims who reported incidents to TIER in 2019, 344 were men and 53 were women.⁵⁸⁵

Oppression of lesbian and bisexual women within the family

Sources interviewed by the IRBC and the Swiss Immigration Service indicated that lesbian and bisexual women were more accepted by Nigerian society than gay and bisexual men. However, several sources indicated that this is a result of their oppression within the family. According to these sources, lesbian women are less likely to be discriminated against or subject to violence because they are not given the opportunity to express their sexual orientation at all.⁵⁸⁶ According to various sources, there is a lot of pressure on lesbian and bisexual women to ‘convert’. Many lesbians therefore enter into heterosexual marriages.⁵⁸⁷

Invisibility of transgender people

Transgender and intersex people remain the least visible categories of LGBTI people in everyday life in Nigeria. This was the conclusion of Lifos, the Swedish migration agency, after a fact-finding mission in 2014⁵⁸⁸, and Nigerian activists stated that this was still the case during the reporting period.⁵⁸⁹ An LGBTI activist stated in October 2020 that Nigeria did not yet really have ‘a vocabulary’ to talk about transgender

580 The Initiative for Equal Rights, 2019 Report on Human Rights Violations based on Real or Perceived Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Nigeria, p. 15, December 2019.

581 The Initiative for Equal Rights, 2017 Report on Human Rights Violations based on Real or Perceived Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression in Nigeria, p. v, December 2017.

582 The Initiative for Equal Rights, 2018 Report on Human Rights Violations based on Real or Perceived Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Nigeria, p. vi, December 2018.

583 The Initiative for Equal Rights, 2019 Report on Human Rights Violations based on Real or Perceived Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Nigeria, p. 15, December 2019.

584 The Initiative for Equal Rights, 2019 Report on Human Rights Violations based on Real or Perceived Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Nigeria, p. 17, December 2019.

585 This is a trend. Over the years, TIER has consistently received significantly more reports of male than of female victims. TIER claimed that this is to some extent due to underreporting of human rights violations against women.

586 WHER, About us, undated. https://whernigeria.org/; The Guardian, Blackmail, prejudice and persecution: gay rights in Nigeria, 30 March 2018.

587 Access to Good Health Initiative and others, Human Rights Situation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Persons and Sexual Rights in Nigeria: Report presented to the UN Human Rights Committee 126th Session, July 2019; The Initiative for Equal Rights, 2019 Report on Human Rights Violations based on Real or Perceived Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Nigeria, December 2019.

588 Swedish Migration Agency, Lifos, Nigeria: Den kulturella kontexten för hbt-personer, pp. 5-6, 18 December 2014.

589 Gal-dem, Who is Bobrisky, Nigeria’s controversial transgender social media queen?, 3 January 2020;

OpenDemocracy, Young, trans Nigerians: ‘people need to see that we exist’, 30 April 2018; PinkNews, End SARS:

Queer Nigerians are being abused, humiliated and killed by a corrupt police unit – and it’s nothing new, 21 July 2020.

people.⁵⁹⁰ A Nigerian transgender person living in the United Kingdom stated that it is almost impossible to live openly as a transgender person in Nigeria.⁵⁹¹ With regard to discrimination against transgender people, another source also stated that disapproval of transgender women (women who were male at birth) in particular is related to the general disapproval of ‘feminine men’.⁵⁹² There are a number of transgender celebrities in Nigeria such as the transgender women Bobrisky and Miss SaHHara. These individuals have a lot of followers on social media and are

simultaneously very popular and very controversial.⁵⁹³ Miss SaHHara fled to the UK as a teenager after being subjected to threats and mistreatment from both fellow citizens and the authorities.⁵⁹⁴

Lack of information about intersex people

The vast majority of the sources consulted for this country of origin information report did not provide any specific insights into the situation of intersex people. This suggests that this is a fairly invisible category, even for researchers and

organisations working for the LGBTI community in Nigeria. A video about intersex people in Nigeria by the BBC indicated that these individuals feel misunderstood and experience discrimination from family members and other members of society when they decide (later in life) to adopt a different gender identity from the one assigned to them at birth.⁵⁹⁵

Deviation from traditional gender norms increases the risk of becoming a victim of violence and discrimination

For all LGBTI people, stigmatisation, oppression and the risk of violence increase when they do not conform to traditional gender norms in their outward

presentation.⁵⁹⁶ Transgender people, femme⁵⁹⁷ men and butch⁵⁹⁸ lesbians were at increased risk of police violence, according to Nigerian LGBTI activists.⁵⁹⁹ According to other sources, these individuals are also the most discriminated against when seeking access to various government services and employment.⁶⁰⁰

The influence of socio-economic status on the situation of LGBT individuals

The socio-economic situation of LGBTI individuals has a significant influence on their position in society.⁶⁰¹ It is easier for economically independent individuals to express their orientation within the family and also within the wider community. Sources indicated that when LGBTI individuals are the breadwinners for their families, the family will be less likely to treat them badly or speak negatively about them.⁶⁰² LGBTI people who are prosperous or who speak English also have greater access to the LGBTI community and to initiatives aimed at supporting LGBTI people, according

590 PinkNews, End SARS: Queer Nigerians are being abused, humiliated and killed by a corrupt police unit – and it’s nothing new, 21 July 2020.

591 OpenDemocracy, Young, trans Nigerians: ‘people need to see that we exist’, 30 April 2018.

592 Gal-dem, Who is Bobrisky, Nigeria’s controversial transgender social media queen?, 3 January 2020.

593 Gal-dem, Who is Bobrisky, Nigeria’s controversial transgender social media queen?, 3 January 2020

594 OpenDemocracy, Young, trans Nigerians: ‘people need to see that we exist’, 30 April 2018.

595 BBC, Dis na wetin intersex pipo dey suffer for Nigeria, 30 September 2019.

596 IRBC, The Situation of Sexual and Gender Minorities in Nigeria (2014-2018), February 2019; Michael Amalumilo, Executive Director Access to Good Health Initiative, cited in: Staatssekretariat für Migration - Bern, Sexual minorities. Three phone interviews with members of support organisations in South-Eastern Nigeria, 18 May 2020; IRBC, The Situation of Sexual and Gender Minorities in Nigeria (2014-2018), February 2019.

597 Men who present themselves as ‘feminine’.

598 Lesbians who present themselves as ‘masculine’.

599 PinkNews, End SARS: Queer Nigerians are being abused, humiliated and killed by a corrupt police unit – and it’s nothing new, 21 July 2020; iD, How Nigeria's queer youth are fighting to #EndSARS, 15 October 2020. See also:

The Initiative for Equal Rights, 2019 Report on Human Rights Violations based on Real or Perceived Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Nigeria, p. 15, December 2019.

600 Confidential source, 24 September 2020; Confidential source, 16 December 2020.

601 Confidential source, 24 September 2020; Nwachukwu Fabulous Stanley, Executive Director, Men’s Health Support Initiative (MHSI), Owerri, 30.04.2020, cited in: Staatssekretariat für Migration - Bern, Sexual minorities. Three phone interviews with members of support organisations in South-Eastern Nigeria, 18 May 2020.

602 Confidential source, 24 September 2020; Nwachukwu Fabulous Stanley, Executive Director, Men’s Health Support Initiative (MHSI), Owerri, 30.04.2020, cited in: Staatssekretariat für Migration - Bern, Sexual minorities. Three phone interviews with members of support organisations in South-Eastern Nigeria, 18 May 2020

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to another confidential source. This is partly the case because, until recently, projects and information aimed at LGBTI people often used English.⁶⁰³ However, wealth and status are no guarantees of security for LGBTI individuals: media coverage shows that wealthy LGBTI people have also been victims of violence.⁶⁰⁴ Human rights violations by government officials

The number of reports of human rights violations against LGBTI people involving government officials increased during the reporting period, according to TIER figures. As already noted, TIER recorded 330 incidents against LGBTI people in 2019.⁶⁰⁵ Government officials were the perpetrators in 71 cases, and 11 cases involved a combination of civilians and state actors.⁶⁰⁶ Government officials were the perpetrators in 32 out of 210 cases between December 2016 and November

2017,⁶⁰⁷ and in 46 incidents between December 2017 and November 2018.⁶⁰⁸ In 2019, state actors were responsible for privacy violations, arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial detention.⁶⁰⁹ Examples are discussed in the following paragraphs on criminal prosecution of LGBTI people.⁶¹⁰

Police investigation of violations of the SSMPA

There is no single procedure for police and criminal investigations of violations of the SSMPA. With regard to the evidence leading to arrests, TIER stated that arrests were often based on information illegally obtained by confiscating the phones of alleged LGBTI individuals,⁶¹¹ subjective evidence such as the observation that a male detainee had ‘feminine traits’,⁶¹² and reports from relatives or neighbours.⁶¹³ A report on the human rights situation for LGBTI people in Nigeria between 2016 and 2019 stated that arrests often took place at parties of groups of men in private homes or hotels.⁶¹⁴ A review by the Human Dignity Trust of arrests that had taken place since the SSMPA came into force in 2014 indicated that these arrests were made on the basis of both the SSMPA and other national and local religious laws (including sharia) prohibiting homosexuality.

Arrests of LGBTI people

The authorities operate an active arrest policy against LGBTI people: dozens were arrested during the reporting period. TIER counted 30 arrests/detentions of LGBTI people in 2018 and 33 such cases in 2019. Several sources interviewed by the Swiss Staatssekretariat für Migration in April 2020 indicated that a number of arrests had

603 Confidential source, 16 December 2020.

604 CNN, Opinion: Nigeria is a cold-blooded country for gay men -- I have the scars to prove it, 17 April 2019

605 The Initiative for Equal Rights, 2019 Report on Human Rights Violations based on Real or Perceived Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Nigeria, p. 15, December 2019.

606 The Initiative for Equal Rights, 2019 Report on Human Rights Violations based on Real or Perceived Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Nigeria, p. 7, December 2019.

607 The Initiative for Equal Rights, 2017 Report on Human Rights Violations based on Real or Perceived Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression in Nigeria, p. v, December 2017.

608 The Initiative for Equal Rights, 2018 Report on Human Rights Violations based on Real or Perceived Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Nigeria, p. vi, December 2018.

609 The Initiative for Equal Rights, 2019 Report on Human Rights Violations based on Real or Perceived Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Nigeria, p. 18, December 2019.

610 Reuters, A police raid, viral videos and the broken lives of Nigerian gay law suspects, 24 February 2020; The Initiative for Equal Rights, Human not a number: Lived experiences of sexual minorities in Nigeria, 2019: Story of Segun, Story of Andy, Story of Wealth.

611 The Initiative for Equal Rights, 2019 Report on Human Rights Violations based on Real or Perceived Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Nigeria, pp. 19-20, December 2019; Michael Amalumilo, Executive Director Access to Good Health Initiative, cited in: Staatssekretariat für Migration - Bern, Sexual minorities. Three phone interviews with members of support organisations in South-Eastern Nigeria, 18 May 2020.

612 Equal Eyes, Nigeria: Discussion on Police Brutality Against LGBT+ Persons, 20 October 2020; PinkNews, End SARS: Queer Nigerians are being abused, humiliated and killed by a corrupt police unit – and it’s nothing new, 21 July 2020.

613 The Initiative for Equal Rights, 2019 Report on Human Rights Violations based on Real or Perceived Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Nigeria, December 2019:

614 Access to Good Health Initiative and others, Human Rights Situation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Persons and Sexual Rights in Nigeria: Report presented to the UN Human Rights Committee 126th Session, July 2019.

also taken place in 2020.⁶¹⁵ There were several mass arrests of actual or alleged LGBTI individuals during gatherings/parties in hotels.⁶¹⁶ Witness accounts from LGBTI individuals indicated that these arrests could be accompanied by intimidation, humiliation and violence.⁶¹⁷ One common practice during arrests was the filming and broadcasting of videos of detainees, who were presented to the public by the police as homosexuals.⁶¹⁸ In some cases, arrests and detention were associated with serious human rights violations such as abuse and torture.⁶¹⁹ Some LGBTI people who were detained experienced inhumane treatment such as abuse, sleep

deprivation and unsanitary practices that carried the risk of HIV infection.⁶²⁰ Extortion against LGBTI detainees

In most cases, detainees were released on condition that they paid large ransoms to the officers who had arrested them.⁶²¹ Almost all sources consulted for this report stated that extortion against LGBTI individuals by police officers is a very common phenomenon in Nigeria.⁶²² A confidential source indicated that if detainees could not afford this ransom themselves, Nigerian LGBTI interest groups often paid it on their behalf.⁶²³ These organisations have set up legal help desks that try to monitor when individuals are arrested so that they can assist them if necessary.⁶²⁴ Despite these efforts to get LGBTI people released in return for payment, media and advocacy groups reported on various cases where LGBTI individuals spent several weeks in detention,⁶²⁵ sometimes in very poor conditions (see previous paragraph). There was one report in May 2018 of a gay man who at that time had spent nine months in prison on charges of homosexual activity.⁶²⁶ According to the NGO Erasing 76 Crimes, it is impossible to compile a complete list of Nigerian LGBTI people currently in detention, because media coverage does not consistently monitor who is arrested and released.⁶²⁷

First legal case under the SSMPA

615 Staatssekretariat für Migration - Bern, Sexual minorities. Three phone interviews with members of support organisations in South-Eastern Nigeria, 18 May 2020.

616 Reuters, A police raid, viral videos and the broken lives of Nigerian gay law suspects, 24 February 2020; Mamba Online, Nigeria | Police arrest dozens of party-goers “accused” of homosexuality, 12 June 2018.

617 Reuters, A police raid, viral videos and the broken lives of Nigerian gay law suspects, 24 February 2020;

PinkNews, End SARS: Queer Nigerians are being abused, humiliated and killed by a corrupt police unit – and it’s nothing new, 21 July 2020. Metro, I’ve been beaten up, spat on and abducted by the police, all for being gay in Nigeria 14 July 2020; Vogue, Why #ENDSARS Is Also A Defining Moment For Nigeria’s Queer Community, 22 October 2020.

618 The Initiative for Equal Rights, 2019 Report on Human Rights Violations based on Real or Perceived Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Nigeria, december 2019: 16; Reuters, A police raid, viral videos and the broken lives of Nigerian gay law suspects, 24 February 2020; The Initiative for Equal Rights, Human not a number: Lived experiences of sexual minorities in Nigeria, 2019: Story of Smart.

619 The Initiative for Equal Rights, Human not a number: Lived experiences of sexual minorities in Nigeria, 2019:

Story of Segun & Story of Wealth. Metro, I’ve been beaten up, spat on and abducted by the police, all for being gay in Nigeria 14 July 2020.

620 The Initiative for Equal Rights, Human not a number: Lived experiences of sexual minorities in Nigeria, 2019:

Story of Segun & Story of Wealth

621 The Initiative for Equal Rights, 2019 Report on Human Rights Violations based on Real or Perceived Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Nigeria, December 2019: 20; Staatssekretariat für Migration - Bern, Sexual minorities. Three phone interviews with members of support organisations in South-Eastern Nigeria, 18 May 2020; Confidential source, 24 September 2020.

622 Nwankwo Francis Casmir, Gender Focal Person Society for Human Health Care Intervention (SHCI), Onitsha, 22.04.2020, cited in: Staatssekretariat für Migration - Bern, Sexual minorities. Three phone interviews with members of support organisations in South-Eastern Nigeria, 18 May 2020; The Initiative for Equal Rights, Human not a number: Lived experiences of sexual minorities in Nigeria, 2019: Story of Segun, Story of Andy, Story of Wealth.

623 Confidential source, 24 September 2020.

624 Confidential source, 24 September 2020.

625 Infomigrants, Arrested for being gay in Nigeria: 'My community is threatening to kill me if I return home', 7 January 2019; The Initiative for Equal Rights, Human not a number: Lived experiences of sexual minorities in Nigeria, 2019: Story of Segun; Reuters, A police raid, viral videos and the broken lives of Nigerian gay law suspects, 24 February 2020.

626 Erasing 76 Crimes, Nigeria: Man facing homosexuality charges languishes in prison, 10 May 2018.

627 Erasing 76 Crimes, 100s are in prison for being gay, last accessed 11 March 2021.

In document Country of origin information report Nigeria (Page 61-74)