ABUJA, Nigeria – Police in Nigeria said today they arrested at least 67 people celebrating gay weddings in one of a series of arrests targeting homosexuality, which is banned in the West African country.
The “gay suspects” were arrested in the southern Delta town of Ekpan at about 2 a.m. Monday at a ceremony where two of them were married, state police spokesman Bright Edafe told reporters.
He said that homosexuality “will never be tolerated” in Nigeria.
Arrests of gay people are common in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, where gay people can face up to 14 years in prison under the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act. Others face up to 10 years in prison.
Enacted in 2013, the law has been condemned locally and internationally although it is also supported by many parties in the country.
Amnesty International’s office in Nigeria condemned the arrests and called for “an immediate end to this witch hunt.”
The Delta State Police Command has arrested 67 gay suspects in a hotel on 28/8/2023. They were at a suspected gay wedding between Daniel Pius ‘m’ (groom) and Maxwell Ohwonowho (bride) at Teebulus Hotel along Ekpan filter road. I paraded them today at the Ekpan Police Station. pic.twitter.com/OghxJXwfpa
— DSP Bright Edafe PPRO DELTA STATE (@Brightgoldenboy) August 29, 2023
“In a society where corruption is rampant, (same-sex) laws that prohibit same-sex relationships are increasingly being used for harassment, blackmail and extortion of people,” Isa Sanusi, the organization’s director in Nigeria, told The Associated Press.
Police in Delta raided a hotel in Ekpan where the gay wedding was held and initially arrested 200 people, Edafe told reporters. Later, 67 of them were arrested after preliminary investigation, he said.
He spoke at the police station where the suspect was being paraded.
Police in southern Nigeria arrested more than 60 people who attended a gay wedding.Twitter/@Brightgoldenboy
“The amazing part is that we saw two suspects, and there was a video recording where they were having their wedding ceremony,” he said. “We are in Africa and we are in Nigeria. We cannot imitate the Western world because we do not have the same culture.”
He reiterated that police officers in Nigeria “can’t fold their hands” and see gay people openly expressing their sexual orientation in the country.
“This is not something that will be allowed in Nigeria,” he said, adding that the suspect would be charged in court at the end of the investigation.
Delta state police spokesperson Bright Edafe told reporters that homosexuality “will never be tolerated” in Nigeria.Twitter/@Brightgoldenboy
In a live broadcast of the parade of suspects by the police, one of the arrested said they did not attend the wedding and were at the hotel for another engagement.
Another suspect said he did not identify as gay and had been detained while on his way to a fashion show.
“On my way to the event, the police attacked me and took me to the police station,” he said. “They say I have done something wrong by dressing like this but I don’t know if cross-dressing is against the country’s constitution.”
Activists have in the past accused Nigerian police of using same-sex laws to carry out mass arrests that sometimes involve straight people, including in 2017 when more than 40 people were arrested for allegedly being gay.
Nigeria is one of a growing list of African countries that have enacted laws criminalizing same-sex relationships, the latest being Uganda whose newly signed law carries the death penalty in some circumstances.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
