Sixty-seven people were arrested and detained by authorities in Nigeria for celebrating a gay wedding, making it one of the largest arrests in a country that outlaws homosexuality.
Delta State Police Command has arrested 67 gay suspects at a hotel on 28/8/2023. They were at a suspected gay wedding ceremony between Daniel Pius (groom) and Maxwell Ohwonowho (bride) at Teebulus Hotel along refinery road Ekpan. I paraded them today at Ekpan Police Station. pic.twitter.com/OghxJXwfpa
— DSP Bright Edafe PPRO DELTA STATE August 29, 2023
Nigerian police arrested the “gay suspects” in Ekpan in the southern Delta state at around 2 AM on August 28th at an event where the two of them were being married. The spokesperson for the Delta state police, Bright Edafe, told reporters that homosexuality “will never be tolerated” in Nigeria.
The police stormed a hotel in Ekpan, where the gay wedding was held. Speaking at the police station where the suspects were being paraded, Edafe said 200 people were initially arrested, but 67 were eventually detained after initial investigations.
This is the type of news that makes the westerners see Africa like Stone Age Nations.
“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.”
Edafe also reiterated that police officers in Nigeria “cannot fold their hands” and watch as gay people openly express their orientation in Africa’s most populous country.
“This is not something that will be allowed in Nigeria,” Edafe said, adding that the suspects will be charged once they appear in court at the end of the investigation.
This world is sad
— Jaleel September 1, 2023
Arrests of LGBTQIA+ community members are common in Nigeria, where homosexuality is widely seen as taboo. The country enacted the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act in 2013, effectively outlawing gay marriages and homosexuality in the West African nation. Although the law was condemned by some Nigerians and by the international community, many Nigerians also supported it.
