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Matthew Blaise has first-hand experience of the notorious police unit that in October sparked the powerful #EndSARS protest in Nigeria. On 10 July, as he made his way to Victoria Island beach, he was arrested by men from the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) unit.
“They pushed me into their van and drove me away,” Blaise says. At the police station, officers badgered him with questions, trying to get him to change his legal statement. They wanted him to declare that he was homosexual and say that he had just had sex.
The 21-year-old gay rights activist says he was arrested for “effeminacy and perceived homosexuality”. Though being gay or effeminate is not a crime in Nigeria, it becomes one if you’re caught engaging in gay sex.