A video circulating online from Port-Harcourt, Nigeria, depicts the lynching of two gay men who were allegedly caught engaging in sexual intercourse.

The men were stripped down to their underwear and forced to hold hands while being paraded in the streets. They were covered in bruises and blood. Onlookers watched and recorded with their phones as the pair were beaten with sticks and fists and attackers hurled homophobic slurs at them.

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An elderly man who witnessed the incident told LGBTQ Nation that mob attacks on queer people are common occurrences in Rumuewhara, a community in the city of Port Harcourt.

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“We catch homosexuals all the time and teach them a lesson they won’t forget. There are so many beautiful women in Nigeria so I don’t understand why a man would be looking at his fellow man. Last year we caught a man who plaited his hair and dressed as a woman; we took off his clothes, we saw his “Gboola” (penis), confirming he was a man, and we beat him up mercilessly. In fact, we almost killed him.” 

 He added, “Homosexuality is an abomination against God, and we won’t tolerate such in our community or the wrath of Sodom & Gomorrah will befall us.”

Shortly after the incident, Meta’s Oversight Board called out Facebook and Instagram for failing to take down a similar video posted in December of two gay men in Nigeria who were beaten and tied up. The video garnered over 3.6 million views between December 2023 and February 2024. Despite being reported by 92 users for violence, incitement, and hate speech, three human reviewers concluded that it did not violate any community standards and should remain on Facebook.

The alarming reality of jungle justice

In Nigeria, the phenomenon known as jungle justice, which involves the extrajudicial and violent punishment inflicted by mobs, poses significant threats to LGBTQ+ individuals and often goes unpunished. This alarming reality driven by entrenched homophobia and bigotry — influenced by both cultural and religious ideologies— creates a harrowing existence for LGBTQ+ Nigerians. 

The combination of strict anti-LGBTQ+ laws, social stigma, and a flawed justice system that fails to protect minorities has created an environment where the lives of queer individuals are not only expendable but also actively endangered.

Nigerian societies are strictly conservative, and a large majority of Nigerians hold highly negative and bigoted views of LGBTQ+ people. 

Same-sex relations can result in 14 years imprisonment under the 2014 Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act (SSMPA). Meanwhile, some northern states that are predominantly Muslim practice Sharia law and punish homosexuality with a death sentence.  

Queer individuals were already discriminated against in Nigeria, but when former president Goodluck Jonathan signed the SSMPA in 2014,  the plight of the LGBTQ+ community worsened significantly. The law, which criminalizes not only same-sex unions but also LGBTQ+ advocacy, emboldened anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments and gave legal backing to violence.

After the law was passed, Nigeria saw a staggering surge in violence and mob attacks against LGBTQ+ individuals that stretched over the next six years. Jungle justice, often characterized by severe beatings, public humiliation, and executions, became a common form of “punishment” for suspected LGBTQ+ individuals. 

Homophobic mobs typically operate without fear of legal repercussions, knowing that the public is on their side. In fact, a 2019 Pew Research survey found that 87% of Nigerians are against gay rights. These mob attacks are often perceived not as crimes, but as acts of moral policing — methods for the community to “cleanse” itself of perceived corruption. 

A month after the bill was signed, two men accused of having a relationship were dragged by a mob to the town square in Gombe State, Northern Nigeria, where they were publicly beaten and stoned to death. 

Communities started organizing mobs in what was believed to be “cleansing rituals” to rid their communities of gay people. Their targets were mostly effeminate men — because in Africa, effeminacy is often associated with homosexuality — and unmarried men in their mid-30s to 50s. In one well-known tragedy, 14 young men were dragged from their beds by a mob wielding wooden clubs and iron bars. Four boys who managed to escape the lynching ran to a police station but were assaulted by the police officers, who handed them back to the mob.

This form of violence became increasingly normalized over the next several years. 

Never thought it would be me

Philip, a gay man living in Lagos told LGBTQ Nation he escaped a near-death experience in 2021 when he traveled to the eastern part of Nigeria to visit a friend. 

“I’ve always read stories of gay people who have been lynched in Nigeria, but I never in a million years thought I’d be a victim myself. Being an effeminate man in Nigeria has always been quite a difficult experience, but I grew up in a rich neighborhood and attended private schools, so I never experienced violent confrontations.”

Philip was in his final year in college when he traveled to Enugu to see a friend, Sam. He was attacked by a mob who barged into Sam’s apartment while they were making dinner. The perpetrators accused Philip of being Sam’s lover. They dragged them outside and savagely beat them up.

“I remember being surrounded by multiple men and getting punched in the eye before someone hit me on the head with a hard object. I don’t really know how long it lasted, but we were bruised and bloodied all over when they were done. My entire face was swollen, and I could barely see a thing.”

He continued, “One man came back and started hitting Sam with a stick when he tried standing up but was restrained by the women there, who I guessed eventually pitied our condition. We were ordered to leave the neighborhood or they would kill us. Despite the bodily injuries I sustained and the unimaginable pain I felt all over my body, my friend and I managed to leave, abandoning all our belongings.” 

Luckily a friend of Sam’s came to their aid. She took them to a hospital, where doctors refused to treat their injuries without a police report. So they had their wounds treated at a private clinic. Sam was admitted to the hospital the next day after learning he had internal injuries. Philip got multiple stitches, including on his face, and a cast for his broken arm. 

Another man Kenneth, lost his boyfriend, Mike, in 2020 when an unknown driver intentionally ran him down for being effeminate.

 “Mike was the sweetest and kindest person I’ve ever known, and I miss him every day,” Kenneth told LGBTQ Nation. “He was attacked in his school for being gay a week before his death, but Mike was quite a stubborn and unapologetic person, he never cared and always stayed true to himself. His friends said he was walking along the road when the driver — who had catcalled him earlier — swerved into the pedestrian lane and ran him down, killing him instantly.”

Kenneth said it still hurts him to this day that he can’t get justice for Mike.

Easy targets

Homophobia in Nigeria and many other African nations is closely linked to religious fundamentalism and cultural norms. Religious leaders frequently preach against LGBTQ+ rights, portraying them as morally and spiritually wrong. This rhetoric fuels harmful ideologies and reinforces negative attitudes toward LGBTQ+ individuals, fostering beliefs that they deserve punishment, which triggers the mob attacks.

 African societies are also traditionally organized around the preservation of family units and adherence to culturally defined gender roles. LGBTQ+ individuals challenge these norms, which demand they marry and have children. LGBTQ+ people are thus viewed as neglecting their responsibilities.

In a nation where poverty and lack of education foster resentment and unrest, marginalized communities become convenient scapegoats. LGBTQ+ individuals, particularly in low-income rural areas, are easy targets for mob violence, especially where law enforcement is weak or absent.

In Nigerian boarding schools, students aged 12 to 18 often gang up on their queer classmates, and beat them up, while school authorities enable this behavior.

Raymond, 20, was expelled from his school in 2021 after his classmates attacked him for writing a love letter to a boy in his class. 

“My classmates found a love letter I wrote to my crush at school and beat me up like a criminal,” he told LGBTQ Nation. “They hit me with buckets and clothes hangers and stomped on me on the floor multiple times, then tied me up and dragged me to the security men, who locked me up in a cell. The next day the school authorities brought me out in the school assembly and some other boys who had homosexual allegations leveled against them. They made us stand in front of the whole school wearing only shorts and expelled us.” 

Moreover, in areas where education is limited, misinformation and ignorance about LGBTQ+ identities flourish. The idea that homosexuality is a “Western disease” that can be “spread” is widely accepted. Even in South Africa, one of the few African nations to legalize same-sex marriage, LGBTQ+ individuals continue to face severe violence.

The safety and dignity of LGBTQ+ individuals remain at risk as long as legal systems criminalize homosexuality and societal attitudes condone mob violence. Unless these root causes are addressed, LGBTQ+ people will continue to face violence, exclusion, and death at the hands of homophobic mobs, perpetuating an endless cycle of fear and trauma.

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