Cross-dresser, others remanded over alleged homosexuality in Ondo

By Boye Oyeyemi –

The Ondo State Police Command have arraigned a 23-year-old cross-dresser and content creator, Taiwo Austine, alongside two others, Haris Abubakar, 25, and Matthew Ogwu, 32, before an Akure Chief Magistrate’s Court on allegations of conspiracy and homosexuality.

Prosecutor, Inspector Abayomi Jejeniwa, told the court that the defendants, along with others still at large, were arrested in Akure last month following investigations that linked them to alleged homosexual acts between April 15 and 17, 2025.

The charge sheet partly reads: “That you, Haris Abubakar ‘m’, Austine Taiwo ‘m’, Ogwu Mathew ‘m’ and one other at large, between the 15th and 17th day of April, 2025, at Akure in the Akure Magisterial District, did conspire together to commit felony, to wit: homosexuality.

“That you, Haris Abubakar ‘m’ and Austine Taiwo ‘m’ and one other at large, on the same date, time and place in the aforementioned Magisterial District, were found to be gay, engaging in a homosexual act which is unnatural for human beings.

“That you, Ogwu Mathew ‘m’, on the same date, time and place in the aforementioned Magisterial District, did attempt to engage in a homosexual act which is unnatural for human beings.”

The defendants pleaded not guilty, while defence counsel A.W. Lawoye sought bail on liberal terms, insisting the allegations were yet to be proven.

Magistrate B.A. Alphonso adjourned the matter till August 11 for bail consideration and ordered the defendants remanded in police custody.