By Mike Ogbomwan
The police in Benin have said that one of the fleeing suspects in the case of same sex they have been investigating for over four years now Johnbull Odeh has been arrested.
The police source says the suspected criminal Johnbull Odeh was arrested in Ikoyi area of Lagos State on August 15, 2021 following a tip off. He was subsequently transferred to Benin for trial.
The poilice have been on the trail of the suspect and others who were caught engaging in homosexuality, an illicit and outlawed sexual behaviours in Nigeria, considered a sacrilegious act in most African societies including Oza community over four years ago and escaped justice.
Johnbull Odeh and his gay partner Kingsley Osariemen who is still at large reportedly committed the act on 20th of March 2017 in Oza community, Orhiomwon loca government area of Edo state and have since not been seen until the police secret dragnet caught Johnbull Odeh in Lagos State.
The suspect faces a fourteen years jail term if convicted as stipulated under the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act, 2014.
Besides, elders of Oza community are said to have made overtures to temporarily hand the suspect (Johnbull) over to them for purposes of cleansing the community of the taboo his illicit sexual acts had visited on the land.
Our source hinted that the police authorities will most unlikely grant the request because, they would not be sure of what would be his fate in the hands of angry villagers who believe that the profane sexual acts had brought suffering to the people which have manifested in the form of strange ailments including death of infants.
The police says Johnbull Odeh has been charged and are optimistic he would get the maximum sentence for the crime and abminable act.
