Three Gay convicts who escaped from prison custody during the March 5, 2016 jailbreak in Benin City, are still on police wanted list, Town Crier News learnt.
According to the Nigerian Observer Newspaper publication of Wednesday, September 9, 2020, the convicts, Olagoke Gbenga Johnson, Nathaniel Okon and Maxwell Okoro were serving various jail terms having been found guilty of homosexuality by a Benin Magistrate Court between August 2015 and February 2016.
In the report, the police said in a statement that the hunt for the gay convicts would continue until they are rearrested and brought back to prison to complete their jail terms.
“We are not giving up on these social misfits. Detectectives would continue the search for them until they are rearrested and brought back to the prison”, the statement added.
Homosexuality or same-sex marriage is a crime in Nigeria. A law enacted by the National Assembly in 2014 prescribed jail term of between 10 to 14 for offenders
Same -sex marriage or relationship is strictly forbidden by Nigerian communities. The penalties range from being paraded nude on the streets to stoning with various sacrificial objects.
The offenders are also required to make sacrifices to appease the gods. These processes have resulted in the deaths of some of the victims, leading to public outcry by human rights groups.
However, these protests have not in anyway change the fate of LGBT persons as the police has vowed continued to crack down on them with possible prosecutions in the law courts.