A 40- year-old Madina, Accra-based trader, Mohammed Hakibu has been rendered bedridden for over a year and a half since he was attacked by an angry mob on suspicion of being gay, much to the disfavour of his job and finances.
According to the victim, when he met an old friend at an Islamic wedding in February 2021, they hugged and held hands together most of the time, chatting and joining in the merriment.
Mohammed did not know that his friends and neighbours at the event had other meanings to their way of showing affection, rather, had concluded that Hakibu who even had a serious fiancee, was gay and therefore plotted a deadly attack on him at home as they claimed he needed to be punished him for being a bad Muslim.
So he was at home one day when the furious group visited him with mayhem, attacked and beat him up mercilessly, rendering him unconscious before they run off.
“They attacked me at my house leading to me sustaining head injuries”, Mohamed hollered.
It was late at night and I was asleep and I heard loud bangs on the door so I went to open it and about 20 fully armed men, many of who were my childhood friends jumped on me without hesitation,” the victim narrated in tears.
Surprised by their actions, he demanded an explanation even as they kept beating him before he even got to know they were accusing him of being gay which is abhorred in their community. He vehemently denied it to no avail.
“They used clubs, sticks, and cutlasses to attack me and even broke my legs whiles beating me. It was my fiancee who even in her bad state, called for help and got a vehicle to convey us to the hospital,” Hakibu wailed.
Now a year and a half on, the visibly wounded Hakibu has remained bedridden and yet to get back on his feet, having spent all he has on medication too, without any steady income since he has not opened his petty trading shop at the Madina market in all this time.
“It’s sad the way we handle people we accuse of any crime even before verifying in this country, we are too quick to judge people. Even if being gay was a crime and I was one, what they did to me should never be done to anyone, it was horrible,” the victim said.
Ever since the incident in 2021, Mohammed Hakibu has gone hiding over the fear of his life, Hotfmghana has learnt.
