Months after relocating to Canada, Victor Oseghale opened up to our reporter, narrating how blackmail, threats, and police surveillance forced him to flee Nigeria. The 47-year-old, who hails from Edo State, has applied for asylum in Canada, claiming that his life would be in danger if he returned due to his bisexual orientation.
In his Basis of Claim submitted to Canadian authorities, Oseghale explained that he first discovered his sexual orientation in 1997 while studying Banking and Finance at Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, where he entered into a relationship with his classmate, Adesuyi Ojo.
He later married Ofure Rita Oseghale in 2009, and the couple have five children. However, he said he continued to struggle with his identity and, in 2022, entered into a relationship with his cousin, Akhidemor ThankGod. The relationship ended after ThankGod relocated to Plateau State. In 2023, Oseghale began another relationship with a businessman, Favour Agbonifo, whom he met through work in Agbado, Ogun State.
Trouble began on September 20, 2023, when an office security guard, Anthony Ehisuan, allegedly caught him and Agbonifo in an intimate situation and demanded ₦500,000 to remain silent.
“We paid ₦500,000 to him. A week later, he still came threatening us, and we also paid another amount of money. This went on before I decided to resign from work,” Oseghale told our reporter.
According to him, when the guard learned of his resignation, he felt his “means of income had been stopped.” Oseghale alleged that because Ehisuan claimed to still hold a video of them “romancing,” which is against Nigerian law, he went straight to the Olomowewe Police Station, Agbado, after further attempts to extort money failed.
He said the exposure led to hostility from community members, tension within his family, and visits from police officers to his residence.
Nigeria’s Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act, 2014, criminalizes same-sex marriage and relationships, with offenders facing up to 14 years’ imprisonment, while those who support such unions risk 10 years’ imprisonment. The law, widely criticized by international human rights groups, has been described as fueling harassment and persecution of LGBTQ persons in the country.
Oseghale said the situation forced him into hiding before he eventually fled Nigeria. “I left on December 28, 2023, and arrived in Canada on December 29, 2023,” he explained. He added that his lawyer had cited recent persecution of LGBT persons in Nigeria as further evidence of the risks he faced.
According to him, he disguised himself at the Lagos airport to evade police surveillance before boarding his flight.
“The police are after my life, and if I return to Nigeria, I will be killed,” he insisted.
His asylum application is currently under review by Canadian immigration authorities.