tension as 18 nigerian homosexuals appear in court

By Lesego Masike (BTM Reporter)

August 24, 2007: Charges of the 18 Nigerian men arrested in Bauchi at Denco Hotel have changed from those of alleged sodomy and alleged attendance of a same-sex marriage to those of indecent dressing and vagrancy.

Aged between the ages of 18 and 21, the men are now charged with contravening Article 372 section 2(E) of the Bauchi State Islamic code which prohibits cross-dressing and the practice of sodomy.

If found guilty, the men will have to face one year imprisonment or thirty lashes.

The accused were not cross-dressed at the time of their arrest, according to Joseph Akoro, the director of the Independent Project (TIP) which is a Nigerian LGBT organisation.

Within the 18 arrested men, only 11 appeared in court and the case has been adjourned until 13 September. The prosecutor requested postponement so that he could study the case further as he has just taken over the case.

Seven of them had been granted bail a few days earlier, while the others were still in custody.

During the court proceedings, the defence lawyers, Rommy Mom and Chino Obiagwu appealed to the court to give bail to the other men arrested.
 
Yet the Nigerian community was not pleased with the fact that initial charges twisted, some of the accused have been released and that the lawyer advocated for bail for the remaining accused. The community held up traffic and poured insults while hurling stones at the court.

“We had to run in some car to escape from the stones, other people got injured and the police had to fire the crowd with teargas,” explained Joel Nana who is Research and Policy Associate of International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC).

The eighteen men were apprehended on 5 August this year at Denco Hotel after being allegedly found wearing women’s clothes by a security team led by Usman Khalid following a tip-off by unknown person saying there was a same-sex marriage taking place at that hotel.

According to Reverend Rowland Jide Macaulay – a fellowship of LGBTI communities in Nigeria, the sort of arrest culminated from alleged sodomy and attendance of same-sex marriage is typical of violation of human rights. He also added that it’s not the first time such “breach of human rights” occurred in that country.
A report by the defense lawyers alleges that the eighteen men were invited by a man called Alami Muhammed to his birthday party and sister’s heterosexual wedding.

Muhammed is still on the run.

“During the investigation female clothing and cosmetics were discovered in their possession, which according to the State proved the fact that [the] young men were about to carry out an illegal and immoral act of same-sex marriage and homosexuality”, the report read.

Global Rights Nigeria, an international human rights advocacy group that collaborates with the local commissions to challenge injustice, engaged lawyers to investigate the case and defend the men in court.

However, the lawyers feel that the accused hardly stand the chance of fair trial as “society and court are biased and prejudiced against them.”

Meanwhile, there hasn’t been any progress on the Nigerian Same-sex Marriage Prohibition Bill 2006 if it could be passed. The last hearings were held in both Federal National Assembly and the Lagos State House during May 2007.

While Macaulay feels that the case is a violation of rights of vulnerable people in Nigeria, he believes that it could be a test to the pending Bill currently before Parliament.