Nigerian security personnel have apprehended over 70 young individuals on allegations of organizing a same-sex wedding in Gombe state, according to a security spokesperson on Monday. This marks the most recent crackdown on the LGBTQ community.
In Nigeria, same-sex marriage is illegal under a 2014 law, and Gombe is among the predominantly Muslim northern states where Islamic Sharia law operates alongside the federal and state legal systems.
Over the weekend, personnel from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) conducted a raid on a gathering place in Gombe, the state capital. They detained individuals they suspected of participating in a “gay party” and planning the wedding of two male partners, as reported by Buhari Saad, the NSCDC spokesperson in Gombe.
“We apprehended 76 suspected homosexuals… while holding a birthday party organised by one of them who was to wed his male bride at the event,” Saad said.
The suspects included 59 men and 17 women, with 21 of the men “wilfully confessing being gay”, he said.
Lawyers for those arrested could not immediately be contacted for comment or confirmation.
The would-be groom was arrested while the bride-to-be fled along with other guests, the official said.
“We will charge them to court to answer for their actions once an investigation is concluded,” Saad said.
Homosexuality is punishable by death under Sharia in northern Nigeria, although that sentence has never been enforced.
In 2014 Nigeria passed new legislation outlawing same-sex marriages and the promotion of civil unions.
Nigeria’s Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act carries penalties of up to 14 years in jail for anyone confirmed to be in a gay union.
Saad declined to say whether the suspects would be charged under Sharia or a common law court.
Security personnel have raided several suspected gay weddings across northern Nigeria in recent years but none of those arrested have been convicted.
In December last year 19 men and women in their 20s were arrested in northern Nigeria’s largest city of Kano by Sharia police called Hisbah on charges they organised a gay wedding.
The suspects were however admonished and released without being taken to court.
