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The police in Lagos State have arraigned 47 men before a Federal High Court for allegedly engaging in romantic gay affair. They were arraigned at about 4.12 p.m. on Wednesday on a one-count charge of engaging in a gay relationship.
Nevertheless, all the accused pleaded not guilty to the charge were granted them bail in the sum of N500,000 each with two sureties each in like sum, one of who must be a civil servant on Grade Level 10, and the other with a legitimate means of income to be verified by the court. The case was then adjourned till December 11 .
Meanwhile, Amnesty International has called for cases to be dropped as men face 10-year sentence under anti-gay laws.
Mr Seun Bakare, Amnesty International’s Nigeria programmes manager called for civil society organisations to scale up their advocacy and ensure “these ridiculous charges against these men be dropped”, according to The Irish Times in an email
“It is too early to say what the impact of the prosecution is on these men, but it is clear that given that Nigeria is a country where discrimination against LGBT people is rife, these prosecutions have further tendency to cast these men in bad light in the eyes of the public. The resultant effect is continuing discrimination,” he said.
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