Nigerian authorities are investigating the death of popular transgender TikTok creator Abuja Area Mama after she was found fatally beaten along a highway.
The battered body of the 33-year-old social media star, who sometimes went by the name Ifeanyi, was discovered in the Nigerian capital of Abuja Thursday, police said, according to the BBC, The Standard, and local media Premium Times.
Nigeria is a strictly conservative society where same-sex marriage is illegal and transgender people often experience discrimination, according to the Human Rights Watch.
A motive in Abuja Area Mama's death remains unclear, but police ordered a "thorough and discreet" investigation into her death after preliminary findings "revealed that the individual was a man fully dressed in female clothing with no means of identification on him," the BBC reported.
According to her Instagram profile, Abuja Area Mama described herself as "the number one Abuja cross dresser and queen of the street."
She last posted a video Wednesday night stating she was "getting ready to go and see my boyfriend," before she was found dead hours later.
Police have not yet named a suspect.
