Tag Archives: Nigeria

Nigerian Official Quickly Back-Tracks After Saying ‘Lesbianism’ Is Killing The National Women’s Team

The vice-president of the Nigerian Football Federation, Seyi Akinwunmi, has been quick to clarify his homophobic comments on female football players, blaming lesbians for the national team’s recent decline.

The Super Falcons have won nine of the 11 African Women’s Championships that have taken place since 1991, making them the toughest female side on the continent.

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But the team failed to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games, and hit the spotlight for the wrong reasons when Akinwunmi was quoted as saying “Lesbianism kills teams” in Nigeria.

Same-sex relationships are banned in Nigeria, which is a deeply conservative country where homosexuals say they often suffer abuse.

The vice-president, however, subsequently hit out at the skewed versions of his speech, and said he was referring to the difficulty of attracting sponsors for the women’s game.

I noted that one of the problems we have encountered in trying to raise funds for the women’s game, is the perception of lesbianism therein.

We strongly believe that there are still potential sponsors out there who will lend their support to help us develop our female teams because of the glory that these girls have brought to this country and their enormous potential to do even more.”

The Oyo State Chapter of the Sports Writers’ Association of Nigeria (SWAN), to whom Akinwunmi gave his original speech, also defended the official.

We wish to place it on the records that the observations of Barrister Akinwunmi, who is the first vice President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is being interpreted out of context and being promoted in negative connotations by those bent on mischief, most of who were not present at the forum.”

The NFF 1st vice President in his response to the question by one of the participants began by avowing his huge passion for women football and grassroots football which his administration as Chairman of Lagos State Football Association has championed.

Among some other problems of running women football he highlighted were comparatively higher costs and lower returns on investment. He also pointed to the dearth of women football players arising from the place of women in traditional practices of the country and the concentration of interest by both corporate Nigeria and individuals on men’s football.

His only mention of lesbianism was in general terms and not relative to women football and it in no way suggests an opinion on sexual orientation of any player. Sexual restriction in football camps is also enforced in men’s teams and the reason is obviously to reduce the distraction from focusing on work.”

It is not the first time the NFF says it has been misquoted on this issue.

Three years ago it denied that an official had said lesbians were banned from playing in Nigeria.

Players for the national women’s side receive significantly lower pay and bonuses than their male counterparts.

The Super Falcons have won the women’s Africa Nations Cup – formerly known as the African Women’s Championship – nine times.

Nigerian LGBT Activist’s Bid for Asylum Rejected Becasue Judge Doesn’t Believe She’s a Lesbian

Nigerian LGBTI activist, Aderonke Apata, bid for asylum was rejected by a British High Court, because the judge ruled her lesbian relationship was ‘fabricated’.

Apata says she now faces persecution, imprisonment and even death if she returns to Nigeria, where she had been an outspoken gay rights activist before moving to the UK in 2004.

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Her applications for asylum have been repeatedly denied as the Home Office did not believe she was really a lesbian.

Also read: UK Home Office Claims Asylum Seeker Can’t Be A Lesbian Because She Is A Mother

Last year Apata, desperate to prove to the authorities that she is homosexual, submitted private photographs and a DVD of her sex life.

However, a Home Office barrister argued last month that Ms Apata cannot be a lesbian as she has children. He claimed that while she “indulged in same-sex activity” she was not “part of the social group known as lesbians”.

Deputy High Court Judge John Bowers QC this week said:

I find it difficult to disagree with the conclusions of the First Tier Tribunal that ‘she has engaged in same-sex relationships in detention in order to fabricate an asylum claim based on claimed lesbian sexuality. I also accept the associated submission made by [the Home Office] that she has in effect adjusted her conduct so as to adopt other customs, dress and mores of a particular social group purely as a way of gaining refugee status.”

He mentioned the “impressive” amount of support she had received, including a petition signed by several hundred thousand people, but said that did not count as evidence.

He disagreed that having children could be considered evidence against her, but did agree Ms Apata was not part of the “particular social group” of lesbians.

In court, Apata was supported by human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell. He said:

It’s bizarre that the judge does not accept that Aderonke is a member of a particular social group, namely lesbian women. I find it offensive to suggest that she’s adopted the ‘customs, dress and mores’ of lesbian women purely in order to gain refugee status, given the evidence that she’s presented in her claim. 

The worst aspect of the ruling is the judge doesn’t accept that she has a well founded fear of persecution if she returns to Nigeria. It’s clear that she’s been publicly identified in the UK and in Nigeria as a lesbian or bisexual woman. Such women face the twin threats of legal persecution and mob violence in Nigeria.”

In Nigeria homosexuality is punishable by up to 14 years in prison, under laws passed in January 2014; the country has also seen a spike in violence against homosexual people.

Apata’s mental healt also formed part of the case. In 2005 she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress and attempted suicide while she was in prison, waiting for deportation.

She has not made a public statement, but although she is frightened of the future Apata believes there may be a chance for her to stay.

Her long-term partner Happiness Agboro, to whom Apata is engaged, is also from Nigeria and has already been granted asylum because of her sexuality.

UK Home Office Claims Asylum Seeker Can’t Be A Lesbian Because She Is A Mother

Aderonke Apata is an LBGBT rights activist, who moved to the UK from Nigeria in 2004. However, her application for asylum on the grounds of her sexuality was rejected last year, despite providing proof of former girlfriends in both the UK and Nigeria.

Ms Apata claims she is at risk of being deported to Nigeria, which an increasingly conservative Nigeria, as of January 2014 it is illegal to be gay; the punishment is imprisonment, and on a less official scale, the fear of vigilante attacks is high.

However, Andrew Bird, the lawyer for the Home Secretary Theresa May, yesterday told a court that the UK would be happy to deport Ms. Apata because, well, she doesn’t seem gay to him. Saying that although Ms Apata had “indulged in same-sex activity” she was “not part of the social group known as lesbians” because she had children.

“You can’t be a heterosexual one day and a lesbian the next day. Just as you can’t change your race.”

Andrew Bird

Um, sorry… did this guy miss the memo that there are plenty of lesbians who don’t realise they’re gay until later on in life, especially those who live in countries where it just isn’t accepted to ‘come out’. And also bisexual women who can find people of either sex attractive?

Ms Apata’s barrister Abid Mahmood attacked the claims as “highly offensive… stereotypical views of the past.”

“Some members of the public may have those views but it doesn’t mean a government department should be putting these views forward in evidence. There is evidence of the genuineness of her case, that she will be picked out as a lesbian if she is returned.”

Abid Mahmood

Deputy High Court judge John Bowers QC has delayed a decision for three weeks, saying he would like time to go over all the arguments.

For what it’s worth, Ms. Apata is in a relationship with a woman called Happiness Agboro; they’re engaged and were holding hands at the court yesterday.

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Speaking outside the court alongside her female partner, Ms Apata told the Independent:

“The Home Office has treated me badly from day one. Staying in Britain means staying safe, staying with my partner and continuing my campaigning.”

Aderonke Apata

In the UK, the government is allowed to grant people asylum on the basis of their sexuality, if it is one that could mean they’re persecuted or punished in their home country. However, the Home Office has a bad record with dealing with these sorts of cases. Until the EU banned the tests, LGBT asylum seekers have had to undergo quizzes to ‘prove’ their sexuality, like knowing stuff about 19th Century writer Oscar Wilde or answering ‘sexually intrusive’ questions about their sexuality like ‘what do you get from a homosexual relationship you can’t get from a heterosexual relationship’ and ‘Did you put your penis into X’s backside?’