Nigerian lesbian arrested by Lagos police after ex-husband reported her

A Nigerian lesbian named *Rita (not her real name) was allegedly arrested by officers of the Nigerian police after her ex-husband found her undressed on her bed with a female friend and reported her to them.

Rita, who spoke to LGBT rights website NoStringsNG.com, claims the police then invaded her house, arrested her and jailed her.


The incident reportedly happened a few weeks ago at the victim’s house in Lagos.
NoStrings reports that Rita told them that she had divorced her husband a few years ago after the death of her father, who had pressured her to get married.

“I knew I was a lesbian, but my father pressured me into getting married,” she said. “I did not have the energy to fight him by refusing, so I obliged.

But when he died, I felt that there was no need for me to continue with the marriage since I did not love the man I was married to.”

Rita said that her ex-husband, Afolabi (not his real name), was shocked and could not understand why she wanted a divorce. He tried to fight it but lost. The marriage was officially dissolved in court.
“After the divorce, I moved away from him and got my own apartment. He swore to deal with me, and never took it well. He kept on sending me threatening text messages and kept on stalking me. I reported him to his family, but nothing changed,” Rita said.

On the day of the incident, Rita claims that one of her relatives, a young boy who lives with her, left the front door unlocked. Then Afolabi barged into the house, walked straight to the bedroom, and found her and her girlfriend undressed, lying on the bed. Rita stated:

“He came right into my bedroom and started shouting and taking pictures. We were not doing anything. We were just gisting [chatting]. My girlfriend had just a towel on her. I quickly asked her to get up and leave. He came outside and shouted that he now had evidence to ruin me. The neighbors gathered to watch what was going on.

“He left a few minutes later and then came back with the police, who arrested me and took me to the station. At the station, I was abused by the police officers. Then they locked me in a room along with other girls. I slept on the cold tiled floor for four days. It was a weekend and they said that I could not get bail on weekends.”

Rita claims she was eventually released after allegedly paying police what to her was a huge sum.

“I paid N62,000 [about $172] before I was bailed out. I have been asked to come back to the station at a set date to deal with the matter. I am so afraid right now and I cannot take up the case against my ex-husband because He is a crazy person and well-connected too.
He knows where I live and where I work. I do not know what he might do to me. He said that he can even kill me and nothing will happen to him in Nigeria.”

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