A 25-year-old gay Nigerian footballer has been deported by Austria to his homeland where he is reportedly "terrified" and living in hiding, reports LGBT Asylum News.

"Cletus U, deported by Austria 5 May on a Frontex (European Union agency) plane to Nigeria with 44 others (and 113 guards) despite mass protests in Vienna, has told a leading Austrian newspaper that he is now in the Lagos slums, living in a shed with five other men. He is terrified that his homosexuality will be discovered, particularly because that was the focus of his well-publicised Austrian case, covered internationally as well as on YouTube. His parents, who live in the Muslim North, where Sharia law is in force including the death penalty for homosexuality, now know about his sexuality. 'The police can come at any time,' he said, 'beat me, imprison or kill, because I am the way I am.' In the slums, he could not trust anyone. ... He only dares to venture out in the dark."

And:

"Cletus was dumped in Lagos with only the clothes he was wearing when he was seized by police at a training session for the football team he coached 29 April and given €50. He couldn't take his mobile phone "to talk with friends" and, he alledges, when he was detained he was unable to shower and wasn't allowed to see either a doctor or his lawyer. He says he suffered a shoulder injury during arrest, which has persisted."

The oil-rich West African nation of Nigeria has been criticized by the United Nations for "serious" human rights violations toward its LGBT citizens. In 2007, the Nigerian parliament proposed extreme anti-gay legislation which has stalled under international pressure. In 2008 and in 2007, lynch mobs attacked groups of suspected gay men, killing at least one. There were no arrests.

Twelve Islamic states in northern Nigeria have introduced the draconian Sharia law that has sentenced several gays to death. These sentences have never been enforced.