By Chuks Eke
Villagers from Umugbo, one of the newly created autonomous communities in Ebonyi state have raised an alarm over the whereabout of a middle-aged man, Eze Tochukwu Gideon who escaped death by whiskers after he was denied his kingship inhertance and banished for being a gay man and a homosexual.
According to a reliable source from the area, the villagers had denied Gideon Tochukwu Eze his kingship inheritance and at the same time banished him from the village, accusing him of undulging in gay practice or homosexuality which they said is not only against Christian religion, Igbo tradition and culture, but also against the Act of Nigerian law.
According to them, the Act is also known as Gay and Transgender, punishable by death in the Northern part of Nigeria and punishable by 14 years imprisonment in the Southern part of the country.
In a press statement titled: “lost but not found”, Eze Tochukwu Gideon’s neigbourhood bossom friend, Uchenna Okeke told newsmen in Onitsha, Anambra state that since
Tochukwu Eze Gideon fled the village on February 3, 2025 after escaping death in the hands of some assailants suspected to be cultists/unknown gunmen who were after his life for being a gay man and having a homosexual affairs with his fellow man in the person of Chinonso, they have never set their eyes on him again, neither do they know his whereabout.
According to Uchenna Okeke, Eze Tochukwu Gideon was duly selected by the villagers as the rightful person to inherit the kingship throne of newly created village Umugbo autonomous community in Ebonyi state but when the villagers discovered that he is a gay man having affairs with fellow man as his boyfriend, they refused to allow him ascend the throne and at the same time banished him from the village after several warnings that he should stop dating a fellow man and indulging in homosexuality.
” Tochukwu Eze Gideon, to my knowledge, was selected by his own kindred to take over the kingship throne (Eze) of his village umugbo in the newly created Ebonyi state in the South East of Nigerian” .
“However, the community rejected him outright because he is Gay and dating his boyfriend, Chinonso and having a homosexual affairs with him. He was banished from the village meetings and repeatedly threatened. The elders of the village even made it clear to him that it is a taboo for a Gay man to become a king (Eze) in the area”.
”This conflict culminated in a deadly attack on him on February 3, 2025 by suspected cultists/unknown gunmen who struck his compound, resulting in the murder of his parents and his boyfriend, Chinonso. He barely managed to escape because he was the clear target. The village subsequently banished him and his family”, said Uchenna Okeke.
”He couldn’t seek justice from the Nigerian government as a result of his homosexual acts. Right now, the cultist /unknown gunmen are still busy hunting for him and threatening to eliminate him anywhere they find him”.
Having been declared a fugitive in his own country by his villagers, we don’t know his whereabout and we don’t know whether he is still alive or dead as it stands now”, Uchenna Okeke stated.
