Earlier this week, the news reported that the Delta State police command got a tip-off about an ongoing gay marriage celebration in the state, they swung into action and busted the gay wedding whilst it was still ongoing. From that operation, they arrested over 100 gay suspects participating in the gay wedding together with the gay partners that are getting wedded in the state.
Despite what you may hear from woke activists or the Nigerian branch of the LGBTQ folks criticizing this operation and calling for the release of the arrested gay suspects, Gay or same-sex marriage as it stands now is illegal and criminal in Nigeria. It became illegal and criminalized in 2014 when the then president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan signed The Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill into law on January 7, 2014.
This law criminalizes same-sex marriage, and participating in gay activities and prohibits registration of gay clubs or gay associations.
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Section 5 of this law, imposes a 14-year prison jail term on anyone who enters into a same-sex marriage marriage or civil union in Nigeria and imposes a 10-year sentence on individuals or groups, including religious leaders, who witness, abet, and aid the solemnization of a same-sex marriage or union. It also imposes a 10-year prison sentence on those who directly or indirectly make a public show of a same-sex amorous relationship and anyone who registers, operates, or participates in gay clubs, societies, and organizations including supporters of those groups. This law in its section 4 expressly prohibits and expressly bans any gay association and its activities or its registration.
By the content of this law which is still in full operation in Nigeria, if those arrested by the Delta state police command are to be charged to court, the gay partners who celebrated the marriage will be sent to jail for 14 years each while those other persons who were there to witness the solemnization will be slapped with a ten years jail term each. That is the law.
This law vests its jurisdiction on the state high courts and the federal high courts. Therefore, when a suspected gay person is to be tried and prosecuted, it is the state high court or the federal high court that has jurisdiction.
