Gombe, Nigeria – Mediaage NG News – Security forces in Nigeria last Saturday night in Gombe state, arrested more than 70 persons on allegations that they organised a gay party that included a wedding ceremony between two men. The news was confirmed on Monday.
Gombe, a predominantly Muslim state in northern Nigeria, in 2014 prohibited through the law, same sex marriage.
The legislation introduced a prison sentence of up to 14 years for those convicted of such offences.
“We apprehended 76 suspected homosexuals holding a birthday party organised by one of them, who was to wed his male bride at the event,” Buhari Saad, a spokesperson for the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, told AFP news agency.
The suspects included 59 men and 17 women, with 21 of the men “willfully confessing being gay”, he added.
In August, security forces arrested 67 people for allegedly attending a gay wedding in the southern Delta state, but a court released them on bail.