There is no doubt that pockets of gay people in the country would be living in fear as a result of a recent law that criminalises homosexuality in Nigeria, with the possibility of 14 years imprisonment.
But SATURDAY PUNCH investigation shows that a bar by the roadside in Agege, Lagos might be offering comfort to members of this community.
Our correspondent visited the bar.
Aware of how dangerous this kind of curiosity could be, our correspondent went under the guise of being a model looking for where to have fun and also “organise” young men and women for his homosexual clients.
The bar, which is located next to a popular petrol station in the area, brings to mind the popular saying that the best way to hide anything is to put it in plain sight.
Dressed casually to blend with the crowd, our correspondent learnt on getting to the bar that a 24-year-old young man owns and runs the place.
Stoutly built with an average height of about five feet, the bar owner’s (name withheld) feminine disposition seemed to suggest that he might be gay.
Still apprehensive about a possible raid, our correspondent asked if the place had ever been raided by the police.
“No, my shop is very safe and has not been raided before,” the owner replied.
Outside the bar, left-over decorations used during the last Christmas hung on the grey double-leaf metal door outside.
To any observer, the bar is like any regular hang-out spot but visitors would immediately be conscious of the peculiarity that would suggest that this might be a gay bar.
Our correspondent learnt that on a good business day, homosexuality, prostitution and Indian hemp smoking thrive in the bar.
But during our reporter’s first visit around 8pm, the pub was not full. It had just three young men who were in their early twenties in it, apart from the owner.
Two of the men seemed to be the bar owner’s friends from the way they acted, and the fourth, a dark-skinned, scruffy looking man wearing dreadlocks sat by the wall, enjoying the music blaring from the only two speakers in the pub.