We are following Distinguished and have reached out to your brother. He will let us know when you are back at Egbeda so we can speak to the head of the kidnap gang. This is definitely not policing. #ReformPoliceNG @PoliceNG_PCRRU @PoliceNG https://t.co/9NjebRLbQv

— SEGA L’éveilleur®? (@segalink) August 26, 2018

Ordinarily, I should be indebted to Segun ‘Segalink’ Awosanya for vociferously fighting against the SARS scourge and pushing for police reform, but I am of the opinion that the movement wasn’t wholistic. Before the #EndSARS hashtag gained prominence, LGBTQ Nigerians have been systematically tortured and dehumanised and lynched and the police watched on. Where was the outrage?

RELATED: Samuel Ogundipe’s arrest proves that the police won’t obey the SARS directive

This is why I never got into the end SARS movement. @cynnerr was right, they only care about human rights when it affects them

— asughara (@5XMV3L) August 26, 2018

Enabled by the draconian anti-gay law cemented into the Constitution in 2014, the police unleashed a wave of raids, harassment and assaults that were ostensibly LGBTQ-targeted. Till date, these activities still flourish. On Saturday night, about 80 allegedly gay persons were rounded up from a hotel party in Egbeda, Lagos. An eyewitness account published on The Rustin Times says four police vans, three danfo buses and a private car stormed the premises and the “suspects” were dispossessed of their phones and money and even assaulted.

Heading to task force oshodi from sleeping in the cell last night at Area M egbeda for doing nothing.

If you can help. Come through pls. They are planning to rope us for things we didn’t do. @segalink

— Manchester united ? Wole ?? (@SirWoley) August 26, 2018

Among them is an alleged straight man, who sent an SOS tweet begging for help and brought the raid to Segun Awosanya’s attention. Deciding to elaborate on the situation, Segalink indicated that the man in question didn’t know he was attending a “gay party” and, as put by the anti-SARS activist, “He is straight with a girlfriend to back his claim and void of suspicious mannerism.”

Our Lawyer from @citizen_gavel is on ground. We have spoken with the Area Commander and contacted the CP. The complainant in the tweet didn’t know he attended a GayParadeEvent until moments ago. He is straight with a Girl friend to back his claim & void of suspicious mannerism.

— SEGA L’éveilleur®? (@segalink) 26 August 2018

But of course, “suspicious mannerism” here means effeminate behaviour and this has been the trusted signal for male homosexuality, a reductive concept that welcomes prejudice and discrimination and, more extremely, violence. Based on this premise, Segalink’s homophobia further curdled into constitutional and bureaucratic jargon, putting the onus on LGBTQ Nigerians to champion legislative reform.

And then he had the nerve to go there: comparing paedophilia to homosexuality, the homophobic argument staple that never ages. Taken together, Sega’s activism is obnoxiously questionable as it operates outside the universal principle of human rights. Sega is not obligated to put his weight against the continued marginalisation and oppression of LGBTQ Nigerians, but his reasons for not doing so, even if implied, reeks of homophobia. And as such, it makes him complicit and dangerous.

It seemed to be a sensitive issue for most who are working on equality. The pedophiles too will soon want to be legalized and demand that we show them a part of the law that forbids sleeping with a child. The age of consent will soon be reduced to 12 if not lower at this rate.

— SEGA L’éveilleur®? (@segalink) 26 August 2018

RELATED: #ENDSARS: Social media is proving yet again an important tool for social reform

@segalink says the LGBT community “harasses the police and resorts to blackmail when reprimanded”.

Imagine having such power.

I wonder why no one has thought of hiring LGBT people when we need to #EndSARS
Surely the power that comes from harassing d police will come in handy

— Walter Ude (@mymindsnaps) August 27, 2018

The Egbeda hotel incident is coming just after another police raid in Abia. And in his blizzard of ignorant tweets, Segalink revealed he has received reports that the LGBTQ community, a vulnerable group, are now harassing the police and asking for flings. Does Sega live on the moon? Not only does this claim sound bogus, it trivialises and obfuscates the everyday horrors and abuse that queer people face in Nigeria. To think he was recently profiled by CNN as a foremost activist against police brutality, but allows the oppression of the LGBTQ Nigerians to persist.

We have reports that this community are now harassing police officers, soliciting for flings and resorting to blackmail when reprimanded. In as much as we all know the law, it’ll be safe for us to abide by it. Whatever it is U believe is right for U must not be forced on others.

— SEGA L’éveilleur®? (@segalink) 26 August 2018

This is what happens when cis-hetero men hold the reins of power, and will swear that the “law of the land” must be obeyed. The laws of the land also protects the rights of adult men to marry girls under the age of 18, and if Segalink’s concerns as evinced by his thread are anything to go by, he knows this is paedophilia but has done nothing to fight against this law.

The Nigerian anti-gay law is enough proof that universal human rights are not universal, and because something is legal or criminalised doesn’t make it right. In the fight for LGBTQ rights and for the movement to achieve a small quantum leap of progress (bodies like The Initiative for Equal Rights (TIERs) are still making positive contributions)), the community needs to start realising that no change will occur if it doesn’t make it happen.

And this can start by community members getting involved in politics in all levels of government, and facilitating the change they want to see. Wittingly, Segalink has poisoned his legacy and history won’t be kind. In the words of Albert Einstein, the world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.

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This article has been updated.