A bar by the roadside in Agege, Lagos has been
exposed as offering comfort to pockets of gay people
living in fear as a result of the recent Nigeria's anti
gay law. A Saturday PUNCH correspondent visited the
bar to investigate. And Punch just revealed what they
discovered.
According to Punch, aware of how dangerous this
kind of curiosity could be, their correspondent went
under the guise of being a model looking for where to
have fun and also “organise” young men and women
for his homosexual clients.
The bar, which is located next to a popular
petrol station in the area, brings to mind the
popular saying that the best way to hide
anything is to put it in plain sight.
Dressed casually to blend with the crowd, Punch's
correspondent learnt on getting to the bar that a
24-year-old young man owns and runs the place.
Stoutly built with an average height of about five feet,
the bar owner’s (name withheld) feminine disposition
seemed to suggest that he might be gay.
Still apprehensive about a possible raid, Punch's
correspondent asked if the place had ever been
raided by the police.
“No, my shop is very safe and has not been
raided before,” the owner replied.
Outside the bar, left-over decorations used during the
last Christmas hung on the grey double-leaf metal
door outside. To any observer, the bar is like any
regular hang-out spot but visitors would immediately
be conscious of the peculiarity that would suggest
that this might be a gay bar.
Their correspondent learnt that on a good business
day, homosexuality, prostitution and Indian hemp
smoking thrive in the bar.
But during our reporter’s first visit around
8pm, the pub was not full. It had just three
young men who were in their early twenties
in it, apart from the owner.
Two of the men seemed to be the bar owner’s friends
from the way they acted, and the fourth, a dark-
skinned, scruffy looking man wearing dreadlocks sat
by the wall, enjoying the music blaring from the only
two speakers in the pub.
The squalid cubicle-size bar can only accommodate
a table with about ten chairs arranged round it. The
coloured lights in the bar made it impossible to
determine the colour of the interior. Even though there
was no television, guests had to manage the non-
stop party music. It was later learnt that those who
could not get inside the bar stay outside to have their
drinks.
The small bar is divided into two sections,
the section is where the drinks are inner and
sometimes used for quick romance as
observed by our correspondent. The outer
part is where the table and chairs are
arranged for customers to sit and have a
good time.
Immediately Punch's correspondent settled in the bar,
the owner came to sit close.
“I think I saw you earlier in the day strolling
around, or was it not you?” he asked.
“Yes, that was me. I actually noticed you were
looking at me and that’s why I decided to come
and hang out here. I came to see a friend and I
would leave here in some days,” Punch's
correspondent said. It was a cue to earn his
trust.The conversation ended there.
Barely five minutes after the brief conversation, the
bar owner astounded the reporter as he kissed one of
his friends on the mouth before he briskly went to
attend to another male customer that had just walked
in.
When he came back, he sat playfully on the laps of
his friends before finally settling down in the middle
of the two men.
The young man whom the bar owner kissed wore a
shirt with the inscription ‘T-boi Swag.’ He stood up
and started dancing seductively. It was not clear
whether the theatrical gesture was for the benefit of
the correspondent or the bar owner’s.
He was at it for a long while before he finally
stopped.
Shortly after, another young man walked in and
ordered a drink. As if jolted from a long sleep, the
scruffy looking dark skinned guy with the dreadlocks
ordered a can of energy drink, dipped his hands in
his pocket and brought out a roll of Indian hemp
which he smoked as he drank.
This reporter invited the young man who came in last
to sit with him and started a conversation to
determine if he was a part of the happenings in the
bar.
He looked puzzled.
“I only came to see a relative around here and I
decided to come here to have some drinks out of
boredom,” he said.
He left shortly after.
Another scenario played out when one of the
young men was eating diced pineapple . The
bar owner asked to be fed some and when
his friend opted to feed him, he shook his
head signalling that he wanted a mouth-to-
mouth feeding with his friend. Without
hesitation, his friend obliged and a brief
kiss was shared.
Some other three young men walked in, all ‘sagging’
their trousers, ordered drinks and brought out their
stash of Indian hemp. A smoking session soon began
as they puffed on their stuff freely.
Just when this reporter thought he had seen it all, a
set of four girls dressed in skimpy and tight-fitting
clothes walked in and greeted the bar owner in a very
familiar manner. It was later discovered that they
were commercial sex workers. They ordered some
drinks.
Few minutes before this reporter left, another pair of
commercial sex workers came into the bar.
Punch's correspondent spent three hours at the bar.
Before leaving, he called the bar owner
outside for a brief discussion and to get his
phone number. The young man initially
hesitated.
But when the bar owner was told that there was
money to be made if he could arrange men for orgies
for the correspondent’s homosexual clients his
disposition became friendly and receptive at this
point. He told the reporter that he was also a make-
up artiste and asked where the reporter was headed.
“I close around 12.30am. When you are done,
you can come and pick me and we would have
a nice time. I will call my aunt to tell her I am
not coming home tonight,” he said.
This reporter never showed up till a few days later.
The next time Punch's reporter visited the
bar , it was around 1pm, but the bar was
locked. While pondering on what to do, he
noticed a light-skinned lady staring at him.
Just when he wanted to turn and leave, the
lady and her friend came and tapped at his
car glass, asking if he wanted to see the bar
owner.
“I recognised you from your first visit,” she
said. The ladies got into the vehicle and took
him to the bar owner’s house.
The young man came out 10 minutes later with signs
that he must have been sleeping. Punch's
correspondent and the bar owner drove away from
the compound. In the car, both the correspondent
and the bar owner had an extensive talk, which was
secretly recorded.
Punch's correspondent said he was a model based in
South Africa. The bar owner was asked to handle the
business the correspondent had told him about
during the previous visit, promising that he could
make between N50,000 and N70,000.
He was also asked how safe his bar was for the
business as no interruption by the police would be
needed. He said his bar had never been raided by the
police since he had been running it for about five
years.
The bar owner later opened up on his life as
a gay , his bar and how he deceived his
parents into thinking that he had a normal
sexual orientation.
When asked about the kiss with his friend, T-boi, he
said it was a normal thing but he was not in a
relationship with the young man. He said that he was
in a relationship with a boy and a girl. The girl was
to serve as decoy to friends and family, so they won’t
know his sexual preference.
He said:
“I just kissed him that day but there is nothing
between us. I am in a relationship with a guy
and a girl; both of them.”
He explained that whenever his friends, the
commercial sex workers, wanted to go out and have
a good time with their customers, his bar was always
the first point of call.
“They come to my bar first, drink, smoke
shisha or weed if they want. From my bar, they
go to their various destinations,” he said.
The bartender said that he also organised young
ladies and men for interested clients. He said that for
clients with a normal sexual orientation, he charges
between N10,000 and N15,000. But homosexual
clients pay more.
“Yes, I have girls that can have sex with other
girls. If there is money, they can do anything. If
they want to do two some, not with lesbians,
sometimes they collect N20,000 or N30,000 for
the night. T-boi, on the other hand, does it for
money. They always give him money. The guys
I have collect about the same amount. If you
give the girls about N20,000, they would be
interested in being with a lesbian partner but if
it is a normal day that they are not going to
club, you can give them about N10,000.”
He told Saturday PUNCH that he would rather be with
someone who has a normal sexual orientation and
wait till the person flirts with him than with someone
who already knew he was gay. The young man said
he was more of a romantic person and would not
readily want to have sex with another man for money.
He, however, said if he needed the money, he would
take it. He said:
“I am always scared when I go out with a
complete stranger. I am always careful when I
meet people for the first time. I don’t know
what the person could be up to; that is why I
am scared. I really don’t like people that are
openly gay; I prefer people who have a normal
sexual orientation and do not know about my
sexual orientation but make advances.
I like them like that, but if people that are gay
like me offer to give me money, I don’t accept
it. I would rather introduce them to another
guy. I have friends that would be interested
mostly because of the money,” he said.
He believes that being a homosexual is his destiny.
He said he embraced it wholeheartedly about three
years ago when he turned 21.
The young man told Saturday PUNCH that there were
tell-tale signs that he was homosexual when he was
young as he always mingled with the opposite sex.
He said it was his nature and that was the way he
was created. He said:
“While growing up, I was always mistaken for
a girl till I began to grow beards. Now, I’m
attracted to men instead of women. I believe it
is the nature of my body and my destiny. I
cannot deceive myself anymore because I have
more feelings for men than women,” he said,
making feminine mannerism.
“I count myself lucky because when people
come from South-Africa, they come to my shop.
I don’t know how they know my shop. This
thing is natural, you cannot hide it. I was still a
kid when I knew I was gay. Then, I used to play
with girls and I was always involved in girls’
games like ten-ten, playing with dolls and the
likes.
Back then, people used to ask me to take
money or bet on whether I was a girl or a boy.
It was not until I started growing beard that
they knew I was a man. While growing up, my
girlfriends would always come to my house to
invite me to play with them.”
The bartender said that he did not like the location of
his shop as the neighbourhood sometimes scared
away his customers. He told Saturday PUNCH that
when he got more money, he would establish a hotel
with a much bigger bar for his customers.
“I want to move because there are times when I
meet some clients and I give them the address
of my shop and they are scared to come
because of the location. Most times, they like
me but the location of my shop discourages
them,” the bartender said.
The last born in a family of four, he said that he came
from a good Christian home and none of his family
members was aware of his sexual orientation. He said
he once impregnated a girl to prove that he was not a
homosexual. He said that the baby had a striking
resemblance with him and that he had been
responsible for the child as the mother insisted on
keeping the baby.
“My family confronted me about whether I was
gay once but when I got the girl pregnant, they
stopped doubting me. People in my area were
the ones feeding them with all sorts of
rumours,” he explained.
The young man who said that he could play the role
of both a male and a female in a relationship, gave
hints on how to know who is the “king or queen” in a
homosexual relationship. He said:
“In a homosexual relationship, it is easier to
know the king than the queen. For example, the
king in a lesbian relationship is the one that
acts like a man. She likes men’s sports, dresses
like a man and even fights like a man.
“The queen is not so easy to spot. If a girl is
naked before her, once she sees her nipples,
she would become aroused and attempts to
touch the nipples. That’s when you would
know the person is a lesbian. I play the two
roles of both a male and a female.”
