Gay maga, niger

A crowd of some 40 people had gathered around his house. The mob broke down his door and dragged him outside in his boxers. John Adeniyi narrowly escaped the attack in Gishiri and has been recording accounts of the violence that night. I cannot go back to Gishiri village.

Obiora Chinedu Okafor on the motives behind the new law and potential international responses. It has been a very bad year for gay rights in Africa. A month earlier in Nigeria, the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act was quietly signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan. In a country where consensual sex between men already attracted criminal penalties, the new bill increases penalties for gay sex to 14 years in prison, it makes same-sex marriage illegal, and also bans gay support and gay rights groups and makes same-sex public affection illegal with penalties of ten years in prison.

A popular Nigerian police chief has warned homosexuals to flee the country or face the prosecution, according to reports. The countries where homosexuality is still illegal. Chief Superintendent Dolapo Badmos, spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, also called on Nigerians with evidence of homosexual activity to come forward. The message was posted on her personal Instagram account - which is set to private but has around , followers - and cites a law signed by former president Goodluck Jonathan that criminalised same-sex marriage and public displays of affection between gay people.

As he and his mother wait in line for hired street youths to help them carry their purchases, two of the young men come to blows over who will get the job. This incident triggers an early recognition that he will never fit into the culture of masculinity reinforced by his mother. This early talent for argument will serve Okporo later in life. But threats of kidnapping from a violent militia group and his prospects of eventually entering college curtail his immediate debating prospects.