Nigerian police have launched an investigation into the death of a popular transgender TikToker known as Abuja Area Mama.
The body of the 33-year-old, who sometimes referred to herself as Ifeanyi, was discovered along a highway in Abuja on Thursday. Local media reports suggest the body showed signs of beating and bruising.
Abuja Area Mama had amassed a huge following on social media, where she openly discussed her transgender identity and experiences as a sex worker.
Nigeria, a deeply conservative society, has strict laws against same-sex relationships and members of the LGBTQ+ community often face discrimination and violence.
In her final Instagram post on Wednesday, Abuja Area Mama told followers that she planned to meet her boyfriend.
Hours later, her body was found on the Katampe - Mabushi expressway in the Banex, Wuse II area of Abuja.
Police said that "preliminary investigations revealed that the individual was a man fully dressed in female clothing with no means of identification on him".
Abuja police chief Benneth Igweh has ordered a "thorough and discreet" investigation into the death.
Last September, the TikToker claimed she had been stabbed by an unidentified assailant. On her TikTok profile, she described herself as "the number one Abuja cross-dresser and queen of the street".
The news of her death has prompted an outpouring of grief on social media.
Martins Ifijeh, a local journalist, posted on X: "Taking laws into your hand because you don't like another person's sexual orientation is the worst form of inhumanity."
