Popular Nigerian gay rights activist Ashiwaju Bisi Alimi has revealed that he had many failed attempts at committing suicide. Bisi Alimi is a Nigerian gay rights activist, public speaker, blog writer and HIV/LGBT advocate.
Bisi gained popularity and worldwide attention when he publicly declared that he is gay. He then fled from Nigeria following threats to his life and has not returned since then because of the strict laws on gay marriage and gays in Nigeria. Gay is a crime punishable under the Nigerian law with 14 years in prison sentence.
Bisi Alimi got married to his current spouse, an English man in the United Kingdom on the 5th of November 2016. Bisi was married to a Nigerian woman with whom he had a son who is now 16, before he fled Nigeria.
Posting via his IG page, Bisi wrote
I N T R O S P E C T I O N.
I have struggled with many demons in my life. Mental health is still the biggest. Many failed attempt at suicide. Many times I look in the mirror and hated myself. Even those days I come on Instagram and give the best laughs and make everyone smile, I crawl back to my shell, crying and just waiting for the dark cloud to move. Many nights I cry myself to sleep even in the midst of abundance. Many people see me and want a life like mine and rightly so cos life has been good to me; a wonderful husband, a lovely dog, wonderful friends, a house in the middle of London, a 2019 Mini Cooper countryman, as a public speaker, I have spoken at many prestigious stages around the world and have many powerful and influential people as friend, but even me, I do get those days that getting out of bed or going into bed is hard.
While I was on social media laughing on Sunday, my demon was eating me up, I failed to see all that I have achieved but confronted with all my failures. Many 10 years ago. Why should a 10 year ago failure cover the success of today? Well that’s what mental health is about. This picture is me communicating with that demon. I stop fighting it and start learning to live with it, I start learning to see it as part of my life, I am learning to understand that it has come to stay and that we will have to be together till death comes. I am not ashamed of my mental health and my struggles everyday.
You shouldn’t be ashamed of yours as well. You are stronger than you think and it is okay not to be okay. Failure is not a measure of success, it is the reward of trying. Never be ashamed of failure. Success is never an end in of itself, even the rich also cry.
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