200 arrested & dozens paraded in front of reporters as Nigerian police raid gay wedding

Nigerian police detained dozens of people attending an event at a hotel that they claimed was a gay wedding.

According to the Associated Press, police in Nigeria’s Delta State raided a hotel in the city of Ekpan early Monday morning where they said a gay wedding was taking place. In a Tuesday morning tweet, the Delta State Police Command said officers had arrested over a hundred “gay suspects in a hotel carrying out a gay wedding ceremony.”

Related Stories 19 arrested after police raid same-sex wedding in Nigeria

The people arrested are being encouraged to change their “lifestyle” through “counseling.”

Delta State Command have Arrested over hundred gay suspects in a hotel carrying out a gay wedding ceremony. We will be going Live Shortly on Facebook to parade the said Suspects.

— Delta State Police Command (@DeltaPoliceNG) August 29, 2023 Get the Daily Brief The news you care about, reported on by the people who care about you.

The AP reports that police initially arrested 200 people, detaining 67 after initial investigations. On Tuesday morning, the detainees were paraded in front of reporters outside of a police station, where state police spokesman Bright Edafe spoke to the media.

“The amazing part of it was that we saw two suspects… and there is a video recording where they were performing their wedding ceremony,” Edafe said. “We are in Africa and we are in Nigeria. We cannot copy the Western world because we don’t have the same culture.”

Nigeria’s Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act, which was signed into law by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014, makes same-sex relationships punishable by up to 14 years in prison. In predominantly Muslim areas of northern Nigeria it is punishable by death under Sharia law, though death penalties passed by Sharia courts must be approved by the state governor.

“This is not something that will be allowed in Nigeria,” Edafe added. “There is no Nigerian… that has the right to go against the law of this country. This is a very clear case.”

Video posted to YouTube and the Delta State Command’s Facebook page shows detainees speaking to reporters. Two of them, including one who identified himself as a male, appear to be dressed in drag. Several said the event they were attending was a fashion show or an “all-white party.” The majority of the detainees appeared dressed in all-white and appeared to be male.

Last December, Islamic police in northern Nigeria similarly raided a same-sex wedding, arresting 19 people. At the time, a spokesperson for the police force said that those arrested would not be formally charged but would be encouraged to change their “lifestyle” through “counseling.”

But the previous July, three Nigerian men were sentenced to death by stoning in a Sharia court in the northern state of Bauchi.