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The Vigilante Group of Nigeria
said it has arrested 25 gay men in
the Muslim north in the last year
and handed them over to the
authorities for prosecution under
Sharia law.
Leader of the Kebbi state
command, Sanusi Ibrahim Geza,
announced the arrests last week
at a press briefing to mark the
first anniversary of his group.
'Some of them were flogged while
others were taken to court to face
other punitive measures,' he told
BBC Hausa.
He said seven were arrested recently and commended the state government and market traders for their assistance.
Geza would not say how the the arrests were made or how they knew the suspects were gay, according to local media.
Neither did he give details on the legal proceedings against them but said they had been handed over to the Hisbah
Commission, the government arm that implements Sharia law.
The group describes itself as 'a voluntary security operatives that assist in the maintenance of law and order.'
Kebbi is one of 14 northern Muslim states where gay sex is punishable with death by stoning, although this penalty has
not been meted out to anyone yet.
'The arrests are harassment!' LGBTI activist Elizabeth Funke Obisanya told GSN.
'President Goodluck Jonathan should consider the rights of all Nigerians as he swore in his presidential oath when he
took up the office. It's a disgrace the disregard that is shown for human lives.'
In January, the president signed the ‘Jail All the Gays’ bill into law, which punishes gay sex, same-sex marriage and
membership of a LGBTI rights group with up 14 years in prison.
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