Members of the local vigilante group in Osina Ideato North Local Government Area (LGA) of Imo State has arrested one suspected same sex practitioner Mr Stanley Chibuike Dike of Uhualla village, Osina in Ideato LGA of Imo State.
The reported arrest was carried out on the invitation of a family member, suspected to be the father, Elder Gilbert Dike who facilitated the arrest of his son by the members of the vigilante group before he was paraded.
It was learnt that the shoddy relationship between the suspect and another young man who had been visiting him since his return from Lagos where he has lived for two years aroused the suspicion that a suspected act of homosexuality must have been existing between the two. The said Stanley was also said to have shocked his parents when he allegedly dropped out of the University of Benin in 2015 and thereafter, travelled to Lagos State in the company of one Mr Onwurah Emmanuel Chidera, a successful business man based in Lagos and staunch member of the barred Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB) group. Onwurah who is from Anambra State is suspected to be a gay fellow too after accusation of initiating and encouraging young men into such acts. He was noted to be close to one Late Jakwu Loko who died mysteriously.
According to Elder Dike, when the son returned from Lagos, he was unkempt, hunger stricken and bearing marks of torture on his body, Stanley was reported to have told his parents that he alongside two of his friends that came back with him that first time have been in police custody for some tune due to their involvement in the outlawed IPOB. Their claims were believable as they came home with various IPOB regalia like clothes, shoes, flags and badges bearing IPOB logo.
“We were proud of their gallantry for being part of the movement for the liberation and actualization of the state of Biafra,” said Elder Dike. Elder Dike himself was a member of the defunct Biafra Army and fought on the side of the defunct Biafra state during the Nigerian-Biafra war of 1967-19709 in which millions of Igbos were killed. Little did he know that beyond the façade of his son’s acclaimed IPOB and Biafra gallantry lay the act of taboo of homosexuality. Luck ran out of Stanley and one of his friends when Elder Dike accidentally walked into them as they were engaging in suspected intimate sexual acts in Stanley’s room in November 2017. Elder Dike raised an alarm and Stanley escaped with his friend before the villagers could arrive to avoid mob action. However, he was finally caught when he returned to plead with his father for forgiveness claiming that he is now a changed person and born-again Christian.
On interrogation, Stanley confessed to being gay and IPOB member. According to him, he found out that he has feelings for only fellow men at his earlier age, but he could not disclose this condition to his family members for the fear of being singled out for undue treatments and being discriminated against by both his family members and the larger society. This, according to him, was also the main reason he abandoned his university education as his sexuality was brought to the public domain within the campus by allegedly a trusted roommate. He couldn’t stand the various threats of bodily harm, indiscriminate assaults fellow students because of his sexuality. However, succor came his way when a schoolmate and secret confidant who is sympathetic to his plight told him about Mr Onwurah Emmanuel Chidera, a Lagos based business man, staunch IPOB member/Financer from his town in Anambra State and secret gay activist who is known to have helped other people in his situation. It was this Mr Emmanuel that arranged and brought Stanley over to Lagos. He thereafter offered Stanley the opportunity to serve in one of his business outlets as an apprentice.
It was also gathered that Stanley and his master, Mr Onwurah Emmanuel Chidera, were part of a group of gay men that were initially arrested at the vintage hotel, No, 999 Ikorodu Road/Toyin close Weigh Bridge, Owode Onirin, Lagos State by men of the Nigerian Police Force on the 29th of July 2017. To Stanley’s surprise, his master was no longer among the suspects by the time they were finally charged to court. He believes that his master must have used financial inducement to negotiate his way out of the police net. Stanley and some of the other arrested gay suspects were arraigned before the Yaba Magistrate Court on August 3rd, 2017 on the allegation of engaging in acts of homosexuality. He however absconded out of fear and returned to his village to hide after his hiding, Onwurah Emmanuel Chidera, arranged and secured his bail conditions from his place of hiding. Onwurah Emmanuel Chidera is currently on the run as fresh warrant of arrest has been issued against him by the Nigerian Police Force for not only being named in many gay related cases, but also for harboring, aiding and sponsoring many secret gay programmes within and outside Lagos State.
It should be recalled that President Goodluck Jonathan signed into law the same sex marriage (Prohibition) Act in 2013. This Act stipulates 14 years jail term for any individual caught engaging in, exhibiting or aiding gay activities in Nigeria. Stanley was finally handed over to the police men in Umunze to face the law.
