Wanted!!! John Emeka on the run over 'homosexual acts' in Anambra State

BY ATIA AZOHNWI

John Emeka

John Emeka, a 23-year-old Nigerian youth living in Anambra State is now on the run following a warrant for his arrest over acts of homosexuality.

A police source told us yesterday that the said Emeka is a notorious homosexual believed to have been initiated into the practice by a teacher, a certain Vincent Fiberesima.

“We are talking here about someone whose homosexual history is dirty. Our investigations show that he has dated a certain Vincent Fiberesima and Uche Emmanuel. We cannot fold our hands and let the law be violated with impunity,” our source at the Anambra state police command said on grounds of anonymity.

John Emeka, said to be a practising Christian lost both parents to an accident and in the absence of a sibling found love in men.

He was last seen on Thursday, September 14, 2017 at a local church. But before police could get to the location, he is said to have disappeared following an apparent tip off.

A January 2014 law in Nigeria, signed by the president, made it illegal for gay people to even hold a meeting. The Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act also criminalizes homosexual clubs, associations and organizations, with penalties of up to 14 years in jail. Nigeria has an influential Christian evangelical movement in the south and strong support for Islamic law in the north, both of which oppose homosexuality.

The act has since drawn international condemnation from countries such as the United States and Britain.

Some Nigerian gays already have fled the country because of intolerance of their sexual persuasion, and more are considering leaving, if the new law is not repealed, human rights activist Olumide Makanjuola said recently

Since Nigeria passed a law criminalising same sex marriage and gay organisations in 2013, law enforcement agents have cracked down on people suspected of homosexuality. However, arrests are infrequent as homosexual people live in hiding.

Gay people live in fear and cannot openly express their sexual orientation. They are not protected by any law so they face discrimination.

Northern states under Sharia - Islamic religious law - have the death penalty for people convicted of same-sex offences which in other states carry a 14-year jail term.

Same-sex relations are explicitly banned in 72 countries, according to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA).

The number of states that criminalise same-sex relations is decreasing annually, though, with Belize and the Seychelles repealing such laws last year.

Nigeria is one of a small number of countries which has gone against a global trend.

The country has had a ban on gay relationships since 1901, and in 2013 also outlawed same-sex marriages, gay groups and shows of same-sex public affection.

The police has however maintained its haunt for John Emeka and his accomplices.

More Than 60 Women, Girls Abducted in Nigeria's Maiduguri

 Suspected Boko Haram militants have abducted more than 60 women and young girls in restive northeast Nigeria, a local official and a vigilante leader said on Tuesday.

Boko Ham

Nigeria’s defence headquarters in Abuja said in a tweet late on Monday that it was “yet to confirm the several reports on the abduction of girls in Borno as at now”.
Defence spokesmen were not immediately available for comment when contacted by AFP on Tuesday.
A senior officer in the Damboa local government, who asked for his name to be withheld as he was not authorised to speak on the matter, said: “Over 60 women were hijacked and forcefully taken away by the terrorists.
“The village was also destroyed. Some of the survivors who do not have means of transporting themselves, especially old women and men, trekked to Lassa, in the Askira-Uba local government area of Borno state, 25 kilometres (away).
“Others went to Gulak in Adamawa state, where they are now taking refuge.”
The abductions are the latest to take place in Borno, which has been worst affected by the Islamist group’s increasingly deadly, five-year insurgency.
On April 14, Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 teenaged girls from their dormitories at a boarding school in Chibok, triggering global outrage and an international response to find the students.
At least 20 young mothers from a nomadic settlement in and around the village of Garkin Fulani were also reported kidnapped on June 7, although it has since been claimed that the disappearances could be due to annual migration.
The secretary of the Damboa local government, Modu Mustapha, neither confirmed nor denied the abductions, while the authority’s chairman, Alamin Mohammed, was not immediately available.
Officials said they were afraid to speak out because of the controversy surrounding the abduction of the Chibok girls, which has seen Nigeria’s government criticised for its initial slow response to the incident.
But Aji Khalil, a local vigilante leader said: “Over 60 women were abducted by Boko Haram terrorists. They were forcefully taken away by Boko Haram terrorists.
“Four villagers who tried to escape were shot dead on the spot.”
Another resident, who fled to the Borno state capital, Maiduguri and also requested anonymity, said: “Over 30 men were killed during the raid which lasted for nearly four days. Most men fled for their lives.
“The attackers held the whole village hostage for the next three days.”