Sex in Public: Police Reverse Self, Say Offenders are Liable to Jail Term

Matilda Omonaiye/

The Lagos State police command has contradicted the reported assertion by the Head of the Public Complaints Rapid Response Unit (PCRRU), Abayomi Shogunle, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, that having sex in a car in public is not prohibited under the Nigerian law.

Shogunle reportedly made the claim yesterday in a tweet that had gone viral.

But the police in Lagos today issued a statement contradicting Shogunle’s position while highlighting the sections of the constitution which criminalised the act.

The command said the clarification became necessary after it was advised by the Department of Public Prosecution in the state and its own legal department on the illegality of Shogunle’s assertion.

According to the statement, the constitution stipulates two or three years jail term for anyone guilty of engaging in an indecent act in the public.

Read the full statement below:

The attention of the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, CP Imohimi Edgal has been drawn to an online publication credited to @POLICENG_PCRRU to the effect that ” Sex in a car in a public place is not a crime in Nigeria provided;

1. Location is not a place of worship
2. Parties are 18yrs+
3. The act is consensual (agreed to by parties)
4. Parties are of opposite sex
   If threatened with arrest over above, pls contact @POLICENG_PCRRU”

Sequel to the development, the CP Lagos has been advised by the Director of Public Prosecution of the State Ministry of Justice and the Legal Department of the State Police Command, Panti, Yaba with relevant sections of the law as follows:
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 person is liable on conviction to 2 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 3 years imprisonment.

It must be noted that section 134 which deals with offences against morality particularly section 134 (a) have it that indecent act in a public place makes both parties engaging in the act liable to imprisonment for 2 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 Penal Code is applicable also make Indecent Acts punishable.

Going forward, the authorities of the Lagos State Police Command hereby declares 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 prohibits such acts in public even if it is done with the consent of the other party

To this end, the Commissioner of Police, CP Imohimi Edgal wants Lagosians to be guided by relevant sections of the law against such acts.

CSP Chike Oti
Police Public Relations Officer
Lagos State