Nigerian’s choice: Prison for gay sex or pay blackmail?
Nigerian police have filed charges against the reported victim of a blackmailer who forced him to choose between paying hush money or facing homosexuality charges.
The man, arrested last month in Sapele, Delta State, Nigeria, was accused of “having carnal knowledge against the order of nature.” That is a crime punishable by 14 years in prison under Section 214 of the Nigerian criminal code.
The defendant, identified by the pseudonym Precious, gave his account of the incident to the Nigerian LGBT website NoStringsNG.com.
Apparently only Precious was charged.
Precious said that after he met a man and connected with him, the man claimed that Precious forced him into having sex — but the whole encounter was arranged by the mother of the blackmailer.
“It is what they do,” Precious said. “I discovered this after the whole incident. They blackmail people and get them into paying them money out of fear.”
After Precious refused to pay blackmail, he was arrested and charged at the Sapele Magistrate Court, he said.
He has appeared in court six times and his family has paid more than 120,000 naira (US $380) for his defense, Precious said. His defense is complicated by the fact that he confessed to a police commissioner that the same-sex affair had occurred, he said.
He is scheduled to appear again at the Magistrate’s Court in Sapele on Dec. 6, NoStringsNG.com reported.
Related articles:
- Nigeria: Man kidnapped by blackmailers who claim he’s gay (July 2016, 76crimes.com)
