By Esther Onyegbula

A mob, Sunday night, beat two suspected lesbians to a pulp at Oke-Ira in Ogba area of Lagos State.

The two women identified as Agbaje Anuoluwapo, a 37-year-old from Ekiti State, and Deborah, another suspected to also be in her late thirties, according to sources, were caught lip-kissing and caressing one another near a major bus-stop in the area.

“Apparently, the women were parting ways because a taxi had just pulled over right beside where they stood. I observed they were hugging, kissing and caressing one another, and then, suddenly, a group of men rushed from no where, pouncing on them and hitting them repeatedly with varying kinds of objects including broken bottles, belts, planks and harmful metals,” our source vividly recounted.

While one of the suspected lesbians, Agbaje, Vanguard gathered, was quick to rush into the taxi and disappear with the driver who didn’t waste any time to drive off, the other was rescued from the mob by another group of from the neighbourhood, who promised to hand her over to police officials.

According to Vanguard’s investigation, Agbaje, discovered to be a single-mother of two boys, lived with her aged mother in the area while her lover had visited from an undisclosed part of the Lagos.

As of press time, all attempts to ascertain the whereabouts of Agbaje proved abortive while her lover, Vanguard learnt, was also no longer in the custody of the group who had rescued her from the irritated mob.

In Nigeria, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, LGBT, practices have been criminalised since 2014 and offenders risk a 14-year jail sentence.