The Lagos State Police Command has described as misplaced a tweet credited to the head of the Police Complaint Rapid Response Unit, Abayomi Sogunle, that having sex in a car is not a criminal offence.
The command’s spokesperson, Chike Oti, said it was an indecent act to have sex in a car in a public place not only in Lagos, but in the entire country.
He said lovers who engaged in sexual activities in vehicles parked in public places, under Lagos laws, were liable to between two and three years’ imprisonment upon conviction.
Sogunle had said in a tweet on Tuesday, “Sex in a car in a public place is not a crime in Nigeria provided the location is not a place of worship; the parties are 18 years and above; the act is consensual (agreed to by the parties); and the parties are of the opposite sex.
“If threatened with arrest over the above, please contact @policeng_pcrru.”
But Oti said the state Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, had received legal advice on the matter.
He stated, “The CP Lagos has been advised by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the state Ministry of Justice and the Legal Department of the State Police Command, Panti, Yaba, with relevant sections of the law as follow: 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 a person is liable on conviction to two years imprisonment.
“Section 136 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015, provides that any person, who commits any act of gross indecency with another person in public, commits an offence and liable on conviction to three years imprisonment.
“It must be noted that Section 134, which deals with offences against morality, particularly Section 134 (a), has it that indecent act in a public place makes both parties engaging in the act liable to imprisonment for two years.
“In the same vein, Section 231 of the Criminal Code Act, which is a federal law and applicable in states, other than the northern states where the Penal Code is applicable, also makes indecent acts punishable.”
Oti added, “Going forward, the authorities of the Lagos State Police Command hereby declare that the assertion that sex in a car in a public place is not a crime in Nigeria is misplaced as the provisions of the Criminal Law of Lagos State prohibit such an act in the public even if it is done with the consent of the other party.
“To this end, the Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, wants Lagosians to be guided by the relevant sections of the law against such acts.”
