PERSONAL NARRATIVE WALIU OLAOLUWA BABALOLA
I am Waliu Olaoluwa Babalola. I was born on July 20 1998 in Ogun State, Nigeria. My parents are Ibrahim Babalola (father) and Funmilayo Babalola (mother). I have been married to Kowiat Babalola since April 7, 2018. I am blessed with one child and my wife is currently pregnant with our second child. I was raised in a small village in Ogun State, named Ota. There, I attended comprehensive high school, however, I did not complete it. I have been working as a Clearing and Forwarding Agent in Lagos, Nigeria since 2013.
I am seeking refugee protection on the basis of my sexuality as bisexual. In December 2010, a man named Ogunsola Olusegun, a family friend of one of my uncles, came to visit my village.
There, he spoke to my parents and said that he needed to find someone to take care of his children in Lagos. He said that him and his wife were very busy with work and did not have time to look after their children. My parents recommended me for the job, because I was the first born and most mature out of six siblings. During their conversation, Ogunsola, was happy that my parents recommended me to work for him and so he promised to take care of me and send me to school in Lagos. After that, my parents and Ogunsola made the arrangements for me to leave with him on December 22, 2010 to go back to Lagos.
When I arrived in Lagos, Ogunsola introduced me to his wife and children. He showed me around the house and discussed what type of work I would be doing for him. Examples include: cleaning the house, taking care of his children who were five and seven years at the time and cook for them. Everything was going well until a month later. In early February 2011, things started to change. When his wife and children were not around, he would sometimes work from home. We would be home alone together. It was during that time, when Ogunsola would start talking about his sexuality to me. He said that he was bisexual and wanted me to be his partner.
At the time, I was straight and did not like what Ogunsola was saying to me. It made me feel very uncomfortable. Ogunsola would start off by touching and caressing me whenever we were home alone. I did not like it at first, but over time, I began to enjoy it. I could not say no to him because I was afraid of him. This was especially the case, because I did not know anyone in Lagos, other than him and his family. Eventually, Ogunsola and I performed a lot of intimate acts together. In October 2011, Ogunsola invited his friends over to his house. There, I met someone named, Sunday Godwin. He spoke with me privately and said that the way Ogunsola treated me was not right. Sunday wanted to take me to Northern Nigeria to start a new life and find new opportunities. I agreed and left a couple weeks later. On the day I left, Ogunsola was not home, so I ran away to a rendezvous pick up spot that Sunday arranged for me. There, I met him and he drove us to Katsina, a northern area of Nigeria. After that, I realized that Sunday was also trying to use me to make money. Sunday was worse than Ogunsola because he kept me captive in one of the houses. He would then invite other bisexual men to come into house I was in to perform intimate acts in exchange for money. I was forced to sell my body. I sold my body up until February 2013 when I met a client named, Okeola Afeez. Okeola was one of my regular clients.
He developed feelings for me and wanted to get me out of that horrible environment. On February 10 2013, he came to the house I was kept captive in at around midnight, snuck past security and got me out. After that, we ran to his car which he parked far away from the house.
He then drove a three-to-four-hour drive back to his house also located in Katsina.
After he freed me from captivity, we started dating and I stayed in his home since the escape. I lived with him for a couple years. On March 20, 2015, I heard news from one of my close friends in Ota village that my family was being tricked and threatened by Ogunsola. Ogunsola told my parents that I ran away from him. He threatened and told my parents to bring me back to him immediately. If they did not bring me back to him, he would kill my parents. It was after I returned to village on April 26, 2015 that I realized my parents were not in the house. My close friend, Kazeem Adeyeri, informed me that my parents ran away from Ogunsola because they wanted to protect me and did want to bring me back to him given how dangerous he is.
It was after that when I relocated to a community in Obada Oko, located in Ogun state. I started a new life there. People in my area began to suspect me as bisexual because I would sometimes meet with other local community men. As a result, I married Babalola Kowiat to cover up the fact that I was bisexual. Even with my wife, I would sometimes miss the feeling of being around other men. On April 20th, 2023, I went to a motel with another man to perform intimate acts.
There, I was caught by one of the motel staff members. It was then, where my actions caught the attention of local community members. More people came, and tried to molest and stone me alive. I ran for my life and it was since then where I started hiding. I had to relocate my wife to my hometown of Ota. My wife was very sad and upset when she found out about my bisexuality.
However, we overcame it and settled the issue. Out of embarrassment and humiliation I decided to save my family by having me be away from them for the time being. I stayed in Ogun state for a while and slept in many different areas. Eventually, I moved to Osun state in October 2023 and hid there until I arrived in Canada. If I were to go back to Nigeria, I would be arrested by the police because bisexuality is considered illegal in Nigeria. There is no safe place for me to go to because even local authorities cannot protect me because they side with local community members. While hiding, I applied for a Canadian visitor visa on August 2023. I chose Canada because of how diverse and accepting the country is towards LGBTQ communities. I feel like I can express my sexuality in Canada freely without any discrimination or persecution. Therefore, I humbly request to be granted refugee protection in Canada.
