By Princess Atavure,
The Lagos State Police Command has launched a manhunt for 43-year-old Olugbenga Odunayo Lawal, an alleged bisexual suspect who escaped from custody over the weekend under suspicious circumstances.
Lawal was arrested on March 22, 2024, in Lagos, after hotel staff reportedly caught him and another man, identified only as Felix, in a compromising same-sex situation. The arrest was carried out by members of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), a vigilante group known for enforcing traditional Yoruba values and justice.
According to police sources, Lawal disappeared while in custody after asking to make a phone call at the station desk. Amid a commotion caused by an unrelated assault case that drew a crowd, he slipped away unnoticed. Sergeant Ogunkoya, the Investigating Police Officer, documented the incident, but senior officers suspected foul play or internal compromise and ordered an investigation.
It was also gathered that OPC had joined the police in the manhunt, intensifying efforts to locate Lawal. Lawal had earlier shared a voice note with his cousin, obtained by Advocate.ng, where he claimed the arrest followed a consensual encounter gone wrong.
“We got tipsy and went to bed. Felix sang love songs, then left to get his phone from the bar. He vomited on return and forgot to lock the door. While we were in the bathroom and later in bed, the hotel staff barged in and started recording us,” Lawal recounted.
The staff allegedly summoned the hotel manager, who contacted the OPC. Lawal claimed that they were stripped naked, beaten with charms and weapons, and paraded before the police intervened, adding that for police intervention, they would've been lynched to appease the gods by the OPC for desecrating the Land.
It was further gathered that Felix, who was diabetic, reportedly sustained severe head injuries and later died in an undisclosed hospital, where he was taken for treatment three days after the incident, according to a senior police source.
Although Lawal survived the assault, his dramatic escape from police custody has sparked outrage. The Lagos Police Command has urged the public to report any information on his whereabouts, warning that aiding his escape will lead to prosecution.
“This matter is serious,” a police spokesperson said. “Anyone found to be harbouring or helping him will face the full wrath of the law.”
Same-sex relations remain criminalised in Nigeria, with penalties of up to 14 years in prison. Human rights groups have condemned the role of vigilante and OPC in justice in such cases, warning that jungle justice, public shaming, and abuse by non-state actors like the OPC which carries out crude punitive measures as a means of appeasing the gods of the land, this has continued to erode civil liberties and due process in the justice system in the country.
