The year has seen a troubling escalation in anti-LGBTQ+ measures in Nigeria, particularly targeting the transgender community. A wave of threats and arrests, physical assaults, and killings has left activists and community members worried and in fear.
The killing of “Abuja Area Mama,” a well-known transgender TikToker, has since August further shaken the community. The unresolved death of Area Mama stands as a stark reminder of the pervasive injustices suffered by Nigeria’s trans community—a crime that remains shrouded in silence and impunity.
Activists link such violence to the misinformation campaign carried out by Daily Trust about the Samoa Agreement. The outlet disseminated in the front page of its newspaper a series of now-deleted and now-apologized-for false claims which earlier this year intensified public hostility, providing justification for increased harassment and flagrant cruelties against the LGBTQ community, especially trans and gender nonconforming people.
In April, Nigerian authorities arrested Bobrisky, a prominent transgender influencer, under charges widely seen as a pretext for targeting her gender identity. The use of vague laws to silence and punish trans people underscores the broader climate of repression upheld by Nigeria’s strict anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.
In 2022, Nigerian lawmakers had attempted to expand the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act (SSMPA) with an Anti-Crossdressing Bill. While this legislation ultimately failed to pass, it called to attention the growing hostility toward trans and gender-nonconforming people. Even without national laws specifically targeting transgender people, harassment and public shaming remain rampant.
Moreover, in Kano State, where Sharia law is enforced to date, the closest legal framework targeting trans identities exists. Under these laws, men who dress as women—or vice versa—risk up to a year in prison, a fine of 10,000 naira (approximately $13), or both, under Section 407.
Despite the failure of the Anti-Crossdressing Bill, the threat of legal and societal backlash continues to loom over the country’s trans and nonbinary population. Helen and Uchechi, a transgender couple running a small salon in southeastern Nigeria, became the latest victims of vicious mob violence. Their business was razed and vandalized by local youths who accused them of defying gender norms.
Following the attack, the pair were arrested under Section 217 of the Nigerian Criminal Code, which criminalizes same-sex activities between men and carries a potential seven-year prison sentence. This case highlights the precarious existence of transgender and gender-nonconforming people in Nigeria, where both societal and legal structures are aligned against them.
The financial burden of being transgender in Nigeria is immense, as discussed by Liber, a trans woman interviewed by Fair Planet. “It’s one thing to be an adult as a cis Nigerian,” she explained, “but when you’re further marginalized, it becomes more complex.”
Considering the prohibitively high cost of medication, Liber continued that “you cannot risk falling sick, because you cannot go to the hospital. You are watching out for security because of the police and other people.
“On the Internet, people say the vilest gnarly things. You do not have access to jobs like every other person.”
In Nigeria, where the lines between cultural conservatism and state policy often blur, the lives of trans and gender-nonconforming people remain precariously suspended in a web of legal ambiguity and societal hostility. The narrative is clear: misinformation, institutional inertia, and a punitive legal framework have conspired to strip a marginalized group of dignity and safety.
Yet, even in the face of systemic violence and erasure, the resilience of people like Liber, Helen, and Uchechi reminds us that their struggle is not just for survival but for the fundamental recognition of their humanity.
——GODSWILL ARINZE AGUBALU