Nigerian police are currently investigating the death of a Nigerian transgender TikToker known as 'Abuja Area Mama.

' The beaten and bruised body of the 33-year-old transgender woman was found along a highway in the capital, Abuja, on Thursday, according to local media reports.

Abuja Area Mama had a loyal fanbase on social media, where she posted about being transgender and her life as a sex worker.

She never used her full name, sometimes referring to herself as Ifeanyi.

Nigeria is a deeply conservative society, and people who step outside the norms are often targeted.

Last year, the TikToker shared that she had been attacked and feared for her life.

Same-sex relationships are criminalized in Africa's most populous nation, and many LGBTQ+ Nigerians live in fear.

Nigerian TikTokers perceived to be gay have also become targets of homophobic abuse online.

Hours later, her body was found along the Katampe-Mabushi expressway in the Banex, Wuse II area of Abuja, in what is suspected to be a murder incident.

A team of detectives visited the scene on Thursday morning, and preliminary investigations revealed that the individual was a man fully dressed in female clothing with no means of identification on him, according to a police statement.

Abuja police chief Benneth Igweh has since ordered a thorough and discreet investigation into the death.

Last September, the TikToker said she had been stabbed by an unidentified person in unclear circumstances.

On her TikTok profile, she described herself as 'the number one Abuja cross-dresser and queen of the street.

' Even though Nigeria's laws guarantee freedom from discrimination and the right to private and family life, mass arrests and detention of those in the LGBTQ+ community are common, especially in northern states.

'Taking laws into your hand because you don't like another person's sexual orientation is the worst form of inhumanity,' local journalist Martins Ifijeh said.

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