“Cross dressing is not a crime in Nigeria, same-sex marriage is”— Popular Lawyer drops his two cents on the Bobrisky saga

A Nigerian lawyer by name Pelumi Olajengbesi, has shared on his Facebook wall his thoughts on the Bobrisky’s viral buzz, VeryDarkMan’s arrest and the position of the constitutional law in it.

He asserts that VeryDarkMan spoke a lot of erroneous statements against the Nigerian police and other top standing citizens which landed him into the trouble he is currently in.

He however states that detention can only be for 48 hours unless some bail conditions has not been met.

Barrister Pelumi delving into the Bobrisky issue, informs that cross dressing may be a moral offence but not a legal sin. To this effect, he was quoted,

I have also seen a lot of posts stating that the Police have refused to arrest Bobrisky. Kindly note the following: a. Cross-dressing is not a crime under Nigerian law as of today. Dressing like another sex and even identifying as the same is not ipso facto a crime under Nigerian Law.

What exactly is a crime in Nigeria is the marriage of same-sex couples or registering a gay club. Even when an individual is married as gay in the United Kingdom and his gay partner is living in Nigeria, such marriage is only invalid and unenforceable in Nigeria but not a crime except when they come and live together in Nigeria as a married couple. Therefore, your knowledge that a person is gay does not amount to a crime as such people also have their fundamental rights in law. The only offence in law is marriage sex which must be proved by partners conducting the marriage or living together.

However, a person who openly states in public that he or she is into homosexuality may only at best be arrested for corrupting public morality, which can be contended as subjective.

Again, just advice, observation, and pointer to better help us learn and understand the operation of our laws.

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