PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (FN) \u2014 A young Nigerian man identified by friends as Hilary has died after an alleged homophobic assault in the southern city of Port Harcourt, drawing condemnation from human rights advocates and renewed scrutiny of Nigeria\u2019s anti-LGBTQ+ climate.
Activists say Hilary, believed to be in his late twenties, was lured by unknown assailants through a social media contact before being beaten and thrown from a two-storey building. He sustained spinal injuries and later died in a hospital, according to LGBTQ+ advocacy group House of Rainbow.
\u201cThis was not an accident. Hilary was targeted for who he was,\u201d said Jide Macaulay, the group\u2019s founder. \u201cWe are calling for a transparent investigation and prosecution of everyone involved.\u201d
The Rivers State Police Command said Sunday that it had opened an inquiry into the death. A spokesperson, Superintendent Grace Iringe-Koko, told the Associated Press that detectives were \u201creviewing digital evidence and witness statements\u201d but had not yet confirmed any arrests.
\u201cWe take this case seriously,\u201d Iringe-Koko said. \u201cRegardless of sexual orientation, every citizen is entitled to protection under Nigerian law.\u201d
Family members described Hilary as \u201cgentle and hardworking,\u201d accusing the attackers of premeditated murder. \u201cHe left home that morning saying he was meeting a friend,\u201d a cousin, who asked not to be named for safety reasons, said. \u201cHours later we got a call that he\u2019d been thrown off a building. He didn\u2019t deserve to die this way.\u201d
Nigeria\u2019s Ministry of Justice said in a statement that it \u201ccondemns all acts of mob violence and unlawful killings\u201d and pledged cooperation with state authorities. But officials declined to comment directly on whether the attack would be investigated as a hate crime.
The killing has fueled anger among LGBTQ+ Nigerians, who say violence against queer people often goes unpunished under the country\u2019s Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act of 2014, which criminalizes same-sex relationships and advocacy.
\u201cThis tragedy exposes how laws meant to suppress LGBTQ+ existence embolden abusers,\u201d said Ikechukwu Nwankwo, a Port Harcourt-based rights lawyer. \u201cUntil the government protects everyone equally, these deaths will continue.\u201d
Residents reported that local vigilante groups sometimes assist police in raids on suspected queer gatherings, a practice critics say fosters impunity. \u201cPeople are afraid to even report attacks because they fear arrest,\u201d said a community organizer with the TIERs Foundation, a Lagos-based LGBTQ+ rights network.
International rights groups, including Amnesty International, have urged Nigerian authorities to \u201cend the culture of violence and silence\u201d surrounding anti-gay assaults. \u201cHilary\u2019s death is part of a disturbing pattern of \u2018kito\u2019 attacks \u2014 cases where queer men are entrapped, robbed, or killed,\u201d Amnesty said in a statement.
As of Sunday, no suspects had been publicly identified. Police say the investigation is ongoing.
Hilary\u2019s burial is expected later this week in his hometown outside Port Harcourt. His family says they want justice \u2014 not only for him, but for others who remain silent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (FN) \u2014 A young Nigerian man identified by friends as Hilary has died after an alleged homophobic assault in the southern city of Port Harcourt, drawing condemnation from human rights advocates and renewed scrutiny of Nigeria\u2019s anti-LGBTQ+ climate. Activists say Hilary, believed to be in his late twenties, was lured by unknown […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-naija-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/homophobi-768x327-1.jpg?fit=768%2C327&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22255"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22258,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22255\/revisions\/22258"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}