Nigerian Gay Asylum Seeker Talks Fear of Being “Tortured” if Deported

Aderonke Apata is a gay Nigerian woman, who is seeking asylum in Britain for fear that if she is sent back to Nigeria, she will be tortured because of Nigeria’s anti-gay laws.

The Home Office in Britain turned her down, after persuading the office that she is homosexual. She sent letters from girlfriends in Nigeria and Britain as well as supporting documents from friends.

According to The Independent UK, Apata, 47, will hand in petition to the Home Secretary Theresa May, demanding that deportation of all LGBT asylum seekers is halted until a review of their treatment is concluded.

Her partner is Happiness Agboro (pictured behind her above)

She tells the publication her ordeal. “I was asked to bring my supporting documents for my judicial review for the court to look at. What evidence do we have to compile apart from letters from people? I knew we had a home video of ourselves, so I thought why not just put it in? I cannot afford to go back to my county where I will be tortured, so if I have to prove it with a sexual video, then I have to do it.

I feel so bad it’s got to this stage. It’s such a desperate and precarious situation to be in, very dangerous, because anything could happen to those pictures, those videos.”

In 2004, when Apata came to Britain, her asylum was on religious grounds. She claims she comes from a Christian family, but married a Muslim man to cover up her long term affections for women.

The man’s family suspected she was gay and turned against her. She says she was taken to a Sharia court, where she was sentenced to death for adultery.

Apata ran away and went into hiding after two appeals for asylum were rejected. She says she lived on the streets of Manchester for fear of being deported.

She was caught in 2012 working with a fake visa as a care manager. Her latest asylum claim that she may be tortured if she returns to Nigeria, was rejected. Nigeria currently has 14 years imprisonment sentence for gays, and her ex was killed in 2012 in a mob attack.

Her petition halting her deportation presently has over 230,000 signatures.

“I want sanctuary. I just want to be protected. I want to be who I am”  Apata who was recently hospitalised for post-traumatic stress, says as a judicial review has been granted in her case.

Photo Credit: The Independent UK