Bolu Okupe, the son of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s spokesman, Doyin Okupe, has said that he knew that he was gay when he was just 10 years old.
He added that that there are many gays in Nigeria living secretly because of public condemnation and criticism.
Bolu shared more insight into his sexuality which he went public with a few days ago.
In an interview with The PUNCH, Bolu disclosed that he knew he was gay at the age of 10, noting that he never chose to be gay, “the same way people don’t choose to be straight”.
He said, “From the age of 10 or 11, I knew I was different, and if you speak to more people in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, they will tell you the same thing. It starts around pre-puberty years. We would progress more as a society if we spoke more to each other and judged less.
“If people take time to have conversations with people of the LGBT community and understand their point of view and perspectives, you will realise that most of us are really not trying to harm anyone and there is no ‘agenda’. We simply just want to exist and be entitled to the same basic human rights as everyone else.
“I did not choose to be gay. No one chooses their sexual orientation. The same way people do not choose to be straight, you just know. Sexual orientation is not something that one can ‘reconsider’. This is the way I am and it is the way I have always been and will always be.
“I will just say that I love and appreciate everyone of my family members, my father inclusive, because if not for him, I definitely would not be able to live the life that I currently live. So, I will never utter anything disrespectful (to him) on any platform.
“Being gay is not ‘Western’ or ‘European’. There are many gay people in Nigeria, they just do not have the ability to openly live that way due to fear of criticism and judgments similar to the reactions that I received. I hope one day homosexuality can be decriminalised in Nigeria. However, I know that we have a long way to go before we get there.”
