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Nigeria: Discussion on Police Brutality Against LGBT+ Persons

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Hello everyone! Welcome to our tweet chat 'Police Brutality Against LGBT+ Persons in Nigeria'. We hope you’ll keep up with the conversation by following this thread and quote tweeting with your comments or questions. #EndSARS #QueerNigerianLivesMatter 

For years, we have recorded in our annual human rights violations reports how police officers and other state actors harass, assault and extort real or perceived queer folks. You can find the reports at https://theinitiativeforequalrights.org/resources/

In a soon to be released report about the effects of Covid-19 on LGBT+ Nigerians, we found that since March, there have been higher levels of extortion and blackmail of gay, lesbian and bisexual people across many states in Nigeria by officers of the Nigerian Police Force. 

A pattern also emerged where police officers would stop anybody who fit their profile of being ‘gay’, question them and search their devices. Once they find anything that points to their sexuality, they arrest, threaten, assault and extort them. 

They then coerce them through torture and blackmail to reveal the identities of their queer friends or partners. When they get this information, they either lure such persons or raid their homes and arrest, threaten, assault and extort them as well. 

Queer protesters joined the #EndSARS protests across the country to raise awareness to the specific violence queer folks face in the hands of the Nigerian Police. In Abuja, queer protesters were harassed by their fellow protesters. This is wrong. 

Today we have @O_Makanjuola as a guest to shed more light on police brutality against LGBT+ Nigerians. Olumide is a Sexual Health and Rights advocate with a specific interest in LGBTQI rights and conversations, movement building, and capacity development for the movement. 

His work focuses on expanding public knowledge and discourse on queer issues through alternative narratives and public advocacy and education. Olumide worked at The Initiative for Equal Rights for 12 years and served as the executive director from 2012 – 2018. 

Welcome Olumide @O_Makanjuola and thank you for joining us. I’ll go right into it with my first question. What are some ways that the Nigerian police harass and violate real or perceived members of the LGBT community?

1)Arresting people for the way they dress 2) and Arresting people based on their mannerism, especially persons who don’t express themselves based on societal gender role. The most common way they have done this is through unauthorised phone search #EndSARS

The Nigeria police is known to constantly search the phone of persons they perceived to be LGBT, arrest and detain them until they are able to bribe their way out. If the persons don’t have money, they collect their personal items as a bribe. This is the norm. #EndSARS

We hear of situations like the recent ones in Benin City where the Police profile people and arrest and extort them on ‘suspicions of being gay’. What does it mean when we say ‘real or perceived’ LGBT+ person?

Máakànjúolá: Benin is just one of the many known and unknown across cases that Nigeria people are faced with as a result of their “suspicions LGBT” profiling. Police arresting people based on “suspicions LGBT” profiling is one of the many ways they have extorted money and make it. The Nigeria police will stop you for having tattoos, earrings, wearing a kimono, skinny / slim jean, using a lips gloss, sounding or walking in a certain way. And for this, people have to constantly mask who they are to avoid police brutality. This is not normal.

In 2015, we dealt with many cases of arrest based on “suspicions LGBT” profiling at the Barrack police station, Ojuelegba, Lagos. It was almost a daily arrest of persons perceived to be LGBT. The extortion range from 50k to 200k per person including beating.

Police have been brutalising people for years based on their “suspicions LGBT” profiling. This brutalising doesn’t leave anyone behind and targets people who don’t conform to societal standard of looks and expression and many LGBT and straight persons pay for this.

From what you're saying, anybody - queer or not - can be arrested and harassed just because they look a certain way. Are the police harassment and brutality faced by LGBT+ persons different or the same from that of others?

Máakànjúolá: Yes. The experience of LGBT persons in the hands of police is multifaceted. The layers that comes with being an LGBT person makes it even more difficult when police arrest you. It’s a battle of negotiating your life with Nigerians and the police. It’s almost never ending

How would you say these dynamics have changed in recent years? Have they worsened or improved?

Máakànjúolá: Worsened. The police basically enjoy extorting persons based on their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity and expression. The case of the 57 arrested is a clear example. They are there because they didn’t bribe their way as expected by the police. Every day, the police is arresting people just because of the way they look or walk. This is not normal. People have to constantly mute themselves just because they want to avoid police brutality. It’s a daily income for the police and a daily pain for us all.

Are affected LGBT+ persons able to get any justice or speak out against police brutality and harassment? What empowers or prevents them?

Máakànjúolá: No, we are unable to speak or seek justice, the system and society often work against us. Thanks to social media, many people can share their stories and with this we are seeing more stories of police brutality targeted at us. People are flighting to survive daily. For us to get justice, society must do better. We have been speaking for years about our abuse and people must not see this as “LGBT” people issue. Today, we are all on the street regardless of who we are. We must get justice together. It's our right to get it.

It is indeed a fundamental right. In what ways does the general public inadvertently contribute to the harassment and brutality towards real or perceived LGBT+ persons in Nigeria?

Máakànjúolá: Many and even in this midst of this protest, people are still contributing to harassment of LGBT people, they keep forgetting that human rights belong to every Nigerians. You can’t tell people how to express their pain at protest. We are all showing up with our pains. By keeping quiet, you contribute. By supporting the brutality, you contribute. By making hateful comments, you contribute. By disrespecting people expression of themselves, you contribute.Let this year remind us that we can’t keep quiet again on issues of injustice.

Follow the rest of their conversation via Twitter