Behind the Mask

BEHIND THE MASK a website on gay and lesbian affairs in Africa

nigeria

about nigeria
official name: Federal Republic of Nigeria
capital: Abuja
head of state: President Olusegun Obasanjo
state: multi party democracy
population: 126,6 million
independence: from Britain in 1960
languages: English (official), Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), Fulani
religion: Muslim 50%, Christian 40%, indigenous beliefs 10%
currency: naira (NGN)
media: Today or Vanguard
legal wise
status of homosexuality: illegal
age of consent: 13
laws covering homosexual activity: According to Article 214 of the Penal Code "any person who has carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature or ….permits a male person to have carnal knowledge of him or her against the order of nature is guilty of a felony and liable to imprisonment for 14 years". Under Section 215 "Any person who attempts to commit any of the offences defined in the last preceding section is guilty of a felony and liable to imprisonment for 7 years.

Under Section 217, "Any male person who, whether in public or private, commits any act of gross indecency with another male person, or procures another male person to commit any act of gross indecency with him or attempts to procure the commission of any such act by any male person, whether in public or private, is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for three years. Maximum penalties for non-consensual acts are the same as for consensual acts. Thus, under Section 352 of the Penal Code assault with intent to have "carnal knowledge with a man (or woman) against the the order of nature" also carries a maximum penalty of 14 years' imprisonment, while unlawful and indecent assaults on a male person can be punished with up to three years' imprisonment. (PB and IB 2/92)
While lesbian acts are not mentioned in the criminal law, in 1997 underground lesbian activists in Nigeria expressed grave concern about a law proposal that would reportedly criminalize same-sex relations between women with up to 3 years imprisonment. There is no confirmation as to whether this law proposal has passed. (IGLHRC "1997 Year in Review")

Since the introduction of Sharia law in the north of the country there have been accounts of gay men being stoned to death.
background information and government attitudes: 9.95: At UN 4th Conference on Women in Beijing opposed the (unsuccessful) proposal for inclusion of references to "sexual orientation" in the draft "Platform for Action"

communication
mainline telephones: 500,000 (2000)
cellular telephones: 26,700 (1997)
internet country code: .ng
internet service providers: 11 (2000)
internet users: 100,000 (2000)
links and contacts

Alliance Rights Nigeria
alliancerightsnigeria@hotmail.com

For more information about Alliance Rights Nigeria you can email the president Erelu Oludare Odumuye: alliancerights_ng@lycos.com
Team Lagos off to Sydney Gay Games 2002 More...

prosecution's case suffers setback in nigerian sodomy case
September 30, 2005: Katsina - The prosecution of two Nigerian men who face the death penalty after being accused of sodomy suffered a setback on Thursday when a second police witness said that he had not actually seen the pair having sex.
More...

pour la cinquième fois le jugement de deux homos présumés est repoter
Septembre 2005: l'instance a reporté le verdict afin de permettre une nouvelle fois à l'accusation de présenter des témoins de l'acte interdit. Plus...

nigerian church breaks with canterbury over gay rights
September 19, 2005: The Anglican Church in Nigeria has deleted all reference to Canterbury, the "mother" church of the Anglican Communion, from its constitution. More...

nigerian court gives police 4th chance to get evidence on gay men
August 25, 2005: For the third time a Nigerian Islamic court has given police more time to collect evidence against two men accused of having gay sex - even though police in each of the previous hearings have admitted they cannot find any proof the men ever had sex. More...

pourquoi le juge a t-il ajourné l 'audience???????
Août 2005: le juge a laissé en liberté les deux hommes nigériens sous cautions et renvoyé le jugement au 24 août. Plus...

nigerian islamic court grants bail to male lovers
August 3, 2005: A Nigerian Islamic court granted bail on Wednesday to two alleged homosexuals who face the death penalty and whose case has once more drawn international attention to their country's rights record. More...

u.s. lawmakers blast nigeria over gay case
August 2, 2005: A coalition of congressional leaders on international and human rights issues sent a letter to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo this week voicing strong concern over the recent case of a Nigerian man sentenced to death by stoning for sodomy. More...

more nigerian gays face death by stoning
July 13, 2005: Less than a week after a United Nations official criticized Nigeria for sentencing a gay man to death by stoning two other gay men have been dragged into court to face the same sentence. More...

acquittal is overturned into death sentence for a gay man in nigeria
July 2005: UN Special Rapporteur says that sodomy cannot be considered one of the most serious crimes for which, under international law, the death penalty can be prescribed. More...

nigeria sentences gay man to death
July 11, 2005: Nigeria's harsh and homophobic Islamic Sharia law is once again in the spotlight after a man was sentenced to death by stoning after he admitted to being gay. More...

a pattern of exclusion, discrimination and abuse in a daily life of a gay nigerian man
June 2, 2005: There is pressure from all quarters of society, and just like charity it begins at home. Yet people have local names for the same concept they would like to obliterate. More...

hiv+ gay man evicted from his home
June 2, 2005: A HIV+ man faces a double tragedy as he is told to leave his residence after a stint in jail by his landlady who is finding it difficult to accommodate a "pervert" in her house. More...

unholy alliance: how power fuels homophobia in nigeria
June 2005: A Nigerian activist argues that discrimination of sexual minorities in his country is a systematic juncture which draws from power axis in Africa's populous country. More...

a letter to the editor of the sun newspaper in nigeria
June 2005: Re: Caught pants down … man caught making love to teenage boys. An activist in Nigeria responds to confusion between homosexuality and paedophilia. More...

homosexuality in islamic nigeria is still a deadly streak
May 27, 2005: A Nigerian young lesbian professional, who shares a house with her partner, although she has to disguise her as a housemate, talks about the dangers of living as a lesbian in Kano. More...

miss gay nigeria 2004/2005: a cry for understanding and acceptance
April 2005: Jimmy Leon, Coordinator for African-rapport and Educator for Amnesty International USA, writes about a silver lining in bludgeoning Nigerian gay community. More...

obasanjo backs bishops over gays
March 1, 2005: The Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has praised Anglican bishops from Africa for what he called their principled stand against homosexuality. More...

escape of gay couple leads to gov't inquiry
February 18, 2005: (Lagos, Nigeria) The Nigerian government Thursday launch an inquiry into the disappearance from police custody of two gay men charged under the country's "crimes against nature" law. More...

importance of feminine values in society
February 16, 2005: The Igbos have a saying: "Nne bu isi uwa", which freely translated means that the mother is head of the world, that is, the anchor of life. Is it not wonderful that a patriarchal society like ours recognises the capacity of women to engender "actions which elicit life, and contribute to the growth and protection of the other"? Indeed, it is the so called modern influences that have deployed the rhetorics of a misguided feminism in an attempt to rob women of this capacity for the other", and nudge them on a vain and narcissistic ego trip. More...

nigeria transvestite handed fine
February,15, 2005: A Nigerian Islamic court has sentenced a man to six months in prison and fined him $38 for living as a woman for seven years in the northern city of Kano. More...

africa and homosexuality
January 7, 2004: Once again we are being faced with the problematic relationship of the Christian church and homosexuality. Comments on the issue from African statesmen and clergymen, especially African Anglican Bishops, make headlines and the basic human rights of gays and lesbians continue to be violated. More...

man faces death by stoning for gay sex
November 29, 2004: (Lagos, Nigeria) An Islamic court has issued an arrest warrant for a middle-aged man accused of having gay sex. If caught and convicted the Sharia court in Keffi could sentence him to death by stoning. More...

lesbian visibility
September 30, 2004: In February 2004 the delegation from Nigeria attending the Johannesburg All Africa Symposium were unable to bring with them a female delegate, but work on lesbian visibility within SPIN has been fruitful since then and lesbians are beginning to make their mark on the Nigerian movement. More…

soccer hairstyles banned for being 'too gay'
September 29, 2004: Attempts are gathering pace to stop young Nigerian footballers from wearing hair braids, dreadlocks and earrings. More...

anglicans decide on gays
September 20, 2004: Homosexuality, which has been a contentious issue within the church, will today be in the front burner of discourse as Bishops of Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) take a stand on the legality or otherwise of the matter. More...

transvestite trial the talk of Nigeria
September 1, 2004: A transvestite faces trial in September in a case which has become a big talking point in the northern Nigerian city of Kano. More...

young nigerian transvestite caught out
August 26, 2004: A teenage Nigerian transvestite and seller of love potions who lived undetected for seven years among the married women of his conservative Islamic community has been caught and now faces jail. More...

in a spin
May 13, 2004: Support Project in Nigeria (SPIN) is an LGBT welfare organisation with over 400 registered members spread across the 6 geographical zones of Nigeria. The SPIN does a social interaction for LGBT people on HIV/ AIDS awareness and prevention. More...

gay community claims a voice
May 7, 2004: Homosexuality is a criminal offence in Nigeria, but gay rights groups made their first ever appearance at the country's fourth national AIDS conference in the capital Abuja this week. More...

alliance rights nigeria win award
December 19, 2003: Nigeria's first LGBT organisation, Alliance Rights Nigeria have won a Breaker of Silence Award in Nigeria's prestigious Red Ribbon Awards ceremony for action against HIV/Aids. More...

gay movement in the open
October 24, 2003: The Weekly Trust has published an analysis by Nasir Dambatta on the achievements of Alliance Rights Nigeria, but misinformation and prejudicial reporting does little to stem the flow of homophobia in the country. More...

sodomite sentenced to death by stoning
September 29, 2003: Jibrin Babaji, a 43-year-old man has been sentenced to death for sodomy by a Shari'a court in Nigeria but will the world come to his aid as they did with Amina Lawal? More...

nigeria set to split church of england
June 19, 2003: The leader of the biggest church in the worldwide Anglican communion yesterday deepened the crisis over homosexuality when he threatened to split with the Church of England if it proceeds with the consecration of its first gay bishop. More...

organising in nigeria
May 9, 2003: Organising towards gay rights in Nigeria has been a patchy process with Nigerians earning an unjustified reputation for dodgy dealing. More…

misleading report confuses paedophilia with homosexuality
August 6, 2002: A report in Abuja newspaper, Daily Trust, lists the crime of paedophilia as a crime of homosexuality. More…

bad news
May 2002: Several recent articles in The News, a newspaper in Nigeria, have tried to link gays with pedophilia and social degeneration but have also highlighted the work of Alliance Rights Nigeria, an NGO working to help LGBT in Nigeria. More...

gay murder in jigawa
April 22, 2002: An effeminate student is beaten to death at his university in Nigeria. More...

the nigerian closet
2002: Radio Netherlands, the Dutch International Service, presented "The Nigerian Closet". The programme was produced and presented by Eric Beauchemin. More...

nigeria orders man's death by stoning
October 1, 2001: A man has been sentenced to death by stoning by the Birnin-Kebbi metropolitan Upper Sharia Court in Kebbi State, Nigeria. More...

nigerian photographer fanikayo dies at 34
2001: The sudden death, at the age of 34, of the Nigerian-born photographer Ratimi Fanikayode robbed South African gay art of great talent. More...

sagbas organise in nigeria
July 1999: Alliance Rights Nigeria is a gay welfarist association and was formally launched on the 2nd of July, 1999 in Lagos, Nigeria. More...

alternative lifestyles foundation of nigeria
1999: Under the fear of imprisonment and legal persecution, gays and lesbians in Nigeria have been prevented from seeking equality. More...

lesbians raped
September 1994: The rape of four Nigerian lesbians in Calabar confirmed by IGLHRC. The four women had sought refuge at a feminist center, when an unknown number of men attacked the center and raped them at gun point. Just a few days earlier, one of the critically injured survivors had published an article on lesbianism in Nigeria in which she traced the advent of Nigerian lesbianism and condemned previous attacks against the center. More...