One of the Gay men, identified as Ezeugo, infected his first lover with the virus. Ezeugo had reportedly brought in another boyfriend to the house and was about to make love to him when the first boyfriend raised the alarm around 3am on Tuesday.
Our correspondent learnt that policemen from the Ikotun division were invited by residents and the suspects were arrested.
A police source said the prime suspect, Ezeugo, confessed to have been a homosexual for about five years.
He said, “We got a distress call from residents around 3am that there was a fight among five homosexuals living together in a room apartment.
“On getting there, we were told that late that night, the neighbours heard a noise and thought a thief had broken into the house. But they later discovered that the noise came from the room where the men stayed and that they were fighting.
“The tenant who accommodated the others, Ezeugo, had gone out to bring a new gay partner and was about to sleep with him when his first lover protested that he could not be sleeping with him and his tribesman from Calabar, Cross River State.
“Ezeugo denied that he wanted to sleep with the new person.
“While we were interviewing them, the first lover said his major grouse was that Ezeugo was sleeping with him and wanted to sleep with his tribesman as well.”
But the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Chike Oti, said the suspects fought after they discovered that they had been infected with HIV.
Oti identified the men, whose ages ranged from 20 to 31, as Ezeugo, Akachukwu, Abuchi, Dara and Marvellous.
The police spokesperson said the five suspects were in custody and they were assisting with investigation.
He said, “They were into gay relationship and a quarrel broke out among them. The security men who listened to their heated argument alerted the police and the Ikotun Divisional Police Officer sent men there to arrest them. One of them confessed to be HIV/AIDS positive and said it was his boyfriend that infected him. The boyfriend was sleeping with the other men as well and that was the cause of their fight.”