On Wednesday, May 24, 2023, the Nigeria Police Force, armed with an arrest warrant, attempted to apprehend Olowu Boluwatife, son of renowned media practitioner Folake Sokoya. Boluwatife is alleged to be involved in gay activities, according to sources within the Ikorodu Police Division.
Officers from the Ikorodu Police Division stormed Sokoya’s residence at No. 35, Kayode Street, Aaga, Ikorodu, Lagos. The action follows a report from a visitation panel set up by Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to investigate ongoing crises at Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu, now renamed Lagos State University of Science and Technology (LASUSTECH). The panel’s findings implicated Boluwatife and other individuals, currently at large, in gay practices banned in Nigeria.
An insider from the police revealed that the panel discovered that the accusation that Boluwatife was a suspected cultist which led to the unwarranted beating and eventual assault of both Boluwatife and his mother in LASPOTECH premises in 2018 was as a result of the fallout between Boluwatife and his gay partner, Adio Lawal and some other students and staffs of the institution that were secretly engaging in the illegal practice of Homosexualism in Nigeria.
The visitation panel, commissioned in 2019, aimed to uncover the root causes of the institution’s crises.
In 2020, Folake Sokoya and her son appeared before the panel to present their case of assault by a security guard at the institution, Moses Hitler, who accused Boluwatife of being a cultist based on his appearance.
Extended investigations by the panel, delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, revealed that Boluwatife, who had been apprehended by the Ikorodu vigilante known as Onyabo in 2017, along with certain students, lecturers, and security guards, were involved in homosexualism. These findings led to the issuance of the arrest warrant after Boluwatife and his mother failed to respond to summonses from the panel earlier this year.
“When we found out that Boluwatife, whom his journalist mother was advocating for, was involved in gay activities, we invited them to appear before the panel again in 2023. They didn’t honor the invitation twice, leading to the issuance of the arrest warrant. Unfortunately, he managed to evade arrest, but I believe they will all be apprehended soon,” explained a panel member who requested anonymity.
The panel member also mentioned that the findings, documented in a white paper, have not been made public to prevent the implicated individuals from evading arrest. “If we disclose our findings now, most of the indicted persons, like Boluwatife, could escape,” he said.
Sokoya had been actively seeking justice for the assault on her and her son by the LASPOTECH security guard. She has publicly petitioned the institution and the Lagos State Government, demanding that the visitation panel’s findings be released.
