My name is Yusuf Kolawole Akeem, I hail from Oyo State, Ibadan to be precise, in Ibadan West Local Government Area. I am a practising Muslim. I worked for a company as a Marketing Manager where we import Industrial tyres (Sudik Global Ltd).
I happened to be lucky in all aspects of life being that I never stayed too long before I got a job after I finished from Lagos State Polytechnic which is now know as Lagos State University of Technology. My gaining admission into higher institution itself after I passed out in flying colours from St Finberr’s College Akoka Lagos was not a surprise to many of my friends who tagged me “Lucky Boy.” My father, Yusuf Alola Lateef was a true father; he made me a man by making sure I succeeded in whatever I laid my hands on with his support both financially and spiritually.
Though I am not yet married, I have a daughter of 6 years old whom I named Yusuf Iteoluwa Ismat. I am from Ibadan in Oyo State but I was raised in Yaba area of Lagos State.
My being a gay started after I met a friend of mine whom we are both together at the higher institution I attended. While we were at the higher institution, he did introduce the illegal illicit affairs to me but I declined then. But, when we met again after sometimes, he convinced me of the advantage of being one and even told me that big guys are all into it and that there is nothing wrong in it. Before I knew it, I have decided to join the group of gay people.
Exactly in December 2017, I met this guy again, his name is Adewale Bolorunduro.
After he spoke to me to convince me to join the group, I agreed. I feel that my acceptance will add more class to my profile. He promised to take care of me and send me abroad.
Later, precisely early February, 2018, things started to change. I was meeting different types of men who are also into this illicit affairs. Even when my girlfriend, the mother of my only daughter was suspecting I was not touching her as a man, I lied to her that I have a chronic pile that doesn’t allow my manhood to be active and functional. She believed this excuse of mine and so I continued with my illicit affairs with my fellow men.
Along the line, I met one Mr Ogunleye. He was so good in this game that I completely forgot about making love with any opposite sex.
Ogunleye would start off by touching and caressing me whenever we were in our gathering and from there, I began to enjoy the illicit affairs even more.
Eventually, Ogunleye and I performed a lot of intimate acts together. Later, Ogunleye told his friends that I was good which always made them to always want to have me anytime he invited me to his house. Though, I do satisfy all of them, I mean his friends and I always go back home with lots of money.
There is one of Ogunleye’s friends, Sunday Godwin, who spoke with me privately and said that the way Ogunleye was treating me was not good and that I deserved more than that. He then promised to take me to the Northern part of Nigeria to start a new life and find new opportunities. I agreed and left a couple of weeks later.
Rendezvous Pick Up Spot was a popular motor park where Sunday arranged for me. There, I met him and he drove us to Katsina, a Northern State of Nigeria. After that, I realised that Sunday was also trying to use me to make money. Sunday was worse than Ogunleye because he kept me captive in one of the houses. He would then invite other bisexual men to come into the house I was confined to perform intimate acts with me in exchange for money. I was forced to sell my body. I sold my body up until February 2020 when I met a client named, Hammed Mohammed; he was one of my regular clients.
He developed feelings for me and wanted to get me out of that horrible environment. On July 11, 2020, he came to the house I was kept captive around midnight; sneaked and maneuvered his way around the security personal 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, which is 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 of years.
When I saw that I was not getting back to my normal self, I decided to be on my own and to avoid the repetition of what had happened to me previously. I decided to flee the Northern state to my comfort area of Western state
I then decided to escape from the man and relocated to Ekiti State.
When I got to Ekiti State, I started a new life but still continued with my gay life. People in my area began to suspect me as bisexual because I would sometimes meet with other local community men.
There was a day, precisely on January 2, 2022, I went to a motel with another man, identified as Leskey to perform intimate acts. There, I was caught by one of the motel staff members. It was then 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 I started hiding.
I stayed in Ekiti State for a while and slept in many different areas. Eventually, I moved to Ogun State 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. I chose Canada because of how diverse and acceptable 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.
