By Ikechi Nzeako

Copyright independent

Charles Onyekamuo, Awka

From his looks, you would probably take him for a thoroughly groomed and cultured young man, too gentle to indulge in an act as l as homosexuality among the Igbo people of South East Nigeria.The Igbo generally despise such a misdemeanor because it is culturally insan

In many Igbo societies, marriage is exogamous, meaning that one can only marry from outside his blood line or kinship group.

Many a time, the young are repeatedly reminded of how sacrilegious it is to do otherwise, thus fostering a strong communal bond of a we feeling.

The male folks are usually seen as custodians of this cultural heritage which has passed down the line since generations, often reminding the younger ones through folk tales of the sanctity of the family and marriage.It is therefore out of sync to see a man in an obscene posture with another man, a reason the case of Mr. Vincent Okoye from Adazi in Anaocha Council Area of Anambra State attracted an unusual attention.

According to Alphonsus Ikechukwu, a youth leader in the community, on July 13, 2025, some children playing near an uncompleted house a few metres away from the town hall had come to a joint where he was sitting out with about six other young men to say they saw two men in the uncompleted building undressed and hugging themselves.“The way the children said it, we thought they were talking about mad people and dismissed them with a wave of the hand.“But they insisted prompting one of my friends to say that we should listen to these kids because as the Igbo say, where a child is crying and pointing a finger, if his mother is not there, his father is.“So we decided to follow them to where they directed us. Alas !, we saw this young man with his trousers pulled to the knee cap and another man fondling themselves. They had no shirts on, just fondling their male organs, hugging themselves.“It was very indecent and an eyesore. On an impulse, I shouted and his ‘partner’ so to say jumped out of the window, picking his shirt as he did and fled.

“So we held one of them, tied him and raised an alarm because an abomination was being committed. “He started begging. People soon converged and some curious ones amongst them took pictures,” he said.

The youth leader said they asked him questions and from his answers they found that he was 48 years and even married with two children aged six and three.“He pleaded with us to forgive him, but we didn’t until we gave him 24 strokes of the cane for his misconduct with a stern warning not to indulge in such disgraceful conduct again.“We were against his conduct because it was not only indecent and disgraceful but against our culture and values,” he said.