A Nigerian undergraduate, Mr. Kareem Faizal Gbolahan, has fled to Canada to seek asylum after he and his family came under sustained attacks following allegations of a same-sex relationship at Kwara State University.

The 19-year-old, a native of Lagos State, became the target of persecution after he was discovered in a compromising situation with a fellow student, Mr. Quadri Adisa, in June 2023. The incident led to violent attacks in Ilorin, Kwara State, where Mr. Adisa was fatally beaten by a mob.

Following his escape from Kwara, influential members of the Adisa family, led by politician Alhaji Yusuf Adisa of the All Progressives Congress, demanded that Mr. Kareem be produced to face punishment.

With the family’s political connections, threats quickly escalated into coordinated attacks on the Kareem family home in Lagos, destruction of property, and community-wide stigma against his siblings.

In October 2024, the family reported threats to police in Lagos, but the situation worsened after law enforcement linked the case to the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act of 2014, which criminalises homosexuality in Nigeria.

The family was given deadlines to produce Mr. Kareem, while mobs continued to target their home.

By December 2024, his mother, Mrs. Ganiat Folashade Kareem, fled Nigeria using her Canadian visitor visa after repeated attacks and deteriorating health.

His father was abducted by unknown men and forced under duress to promise to produce his son. In January 2025, his father’s business was demolished by Lagos State officials, an action believed to have been influenced by political connections.

The destruction of his father’s livelihood left the family financially incapacitated. His siblings remain displaced, while his father lives in hiding and struggles with panic attacks.

The ongoing threats from both political and religious actors, coupled with the enforcement of Nigeria’s anti-gay laws, have left the family defenceless.

Mr. Kareem is now appealing to the Canadian government to grant asylum to him and his mother, insisting that returning to Nigeria would expose them to certain persecution and danger.