One Nigeria officer, Abayomi Shogunle head of Pubic Complaint Rapid Response Unit of the Nigerian police has become the talk of the internet in the West African nation.
Following a question put to the officer on Twitter about what the law stands on people having sex in public places. The officer, responded using his personal Twitter account (@YomiShogunle) saying Nigerian laws does not find anyone having broken the law for having sex in a public place while inside the confines of their car.
NO.
Sex in a car in a public place is not a crime in Nigeria provided;
1. Location is not a place of worship
2. Parties are 18 yrs+
3. The act is consensual (agreed to by parties)
4. Parties are of opposite sex
If threatened with an arrest over above, pls contact @PoliceNG_PCRRU. https://t.co/U1Dqk9Mywe— Abayomi Shogunle (@YomiShogunle) December 11, 2018
Shogunle is an assistant commissioner of Police, so his tweet can be said to be authoritative on the matter. And it took no time before it began going viral with more than two thousand retweets and 1.6k likes as at the time of writing this post.
So for Nigerians, or if you happen to find yourself in Nigeria, there is no need of spending cash looking for a hotel room or something like that. Just take your raunchy partner into the car, and answer the call of nature! But be sure not to have the car parked at a place of worship, your partner is at least 18 years old and of the opposite sex. One more thing, it better be consensual; so no raping. And that’s just about it.
Well, so many people on Twitter were amazed at what the officer was saying, and from the tweets, they are sending, you can tell they are talking from experience. Perhaps they got interrupted at one point (or maybe multiple points) by the Nigerian cops when they were doing it in public.
Here is a snippet of some of the response Office Shogunle got to his tweet.
— Enesi (@StephenOtaru) December 11, 2018
Lmao. I remember last year when they caught a friend and his babe. Harassed them for money and when nothing was coming forth , they took them to the station.
— Mmekidmfon Umanah #WASH (@mmekid_mfon) December 11, 2018
Surulere police station please take note.
— sidney (@sid2domino) December 11, 2018
Uncle Yomi, a friend was arrested sometime ago around GRA Ikeja by ur men. He was charged for public nuisance and was made to pay 10k that evening.
— Abiodun Idowu 🐦 (@habbeyluti) December 11, 2018
Sex in the car is synonymous with an Embassy in a host country, and are protected under the concept of diplomatic immunity 👌 but of course not to be don in public places, or with kids around. I recommend at late hours 👍
— YusufBobbyJiggaMusa (@BobbyJigga) December 11, 2018
Please Sir, what if it happens in the Northern part of Nigeria where such act is against the Sharia Law ?
— UGBANAAWAJI SAMUEL (@UgbanaawajiS) December 11, 2018
Once police sees a man and woman inside a car parked and discussing without even having sex they assume you are kissing and doing it already and if you no get money to bail nah straight to station
— Magnificent Teeboya (@MTeeboya) December 11, 2018
But it later turns out that Abayomi Shogunle was actually wrong. Edgal Imohimi, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police came out to set the record straight. He said that having sex inside a car in a public place will be considered an act of indecency and the couple liable for prosecution. In a statement, he said:
“The attention of the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, CP Imohimi Edgal has been drawn to an online publication credited to @PLICENG_PCRRU to the effect that sex in a car in a public place is not a crime in Nigeria provided location is not a place of worship; parties are 18yrs+; the act is consensual; parties are of opposite sex and if threatened with arrest over above, pls contact @POLICENG_PCRRU.
Sequel to the development, the CP Laogs has been advised by the Director of Public Prosecution of the state Ministry of Justice and the Legal Deapartment of the State Police Command, Panti, Yaba with relevant sections of the law as follows: Section 134 (a) Criminal Law of Lagos state 2015 prohibits any indecent act in any public place without lawful excuse. The law holds that such person is liable on conviction to 2 years imprisonment.”
