Oyo state police command has apprehended 21 young men under the age of 25 in possession of 122 condoms, and arrested them for belonging to a gay cult.
The young men were picked up by the police in Ibadan at a birthday party, The organizer of the party said that it was just a birthday party but the police claimed that they were all in an gay cult due to the 122 condoms and the absence of women.
Nigerian Police Command
The police claimed that they got a tip that it was a gay party and therefore stormed the house.
The police said that the absence of women confirmed their investigations.
However, the human rights organisation, The Initiative for Equal Rights (TIER) spoke out against the arrest of the boys, and said the boys were assaulted physically and made to incriminate themselves by police officers.
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A spokesman of the organization said: “At the point of arrest, the young men were physically assaulted and treated in a manner unbecoming of any legal process: they were photographed in their underwear, made to write statements under duress and locked up in an overcrowded cell.”
After lawyers from the International Center for Reproductive Health and Sexual Rights (INCRESE) intervened, the suspects were granted bail notices from N5,000 to N10,000, while the organizer of the party was made to pay N21,000.
The young men rejected appealing against the maltreatment they received in police custody so as not to labelled as gays.
Eleven of the 21 have been bailed by their family, while 10 were bailed by INCRESE, who then took them to a safe house.
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The young men all claimed that the police arrest was just to extort money from them.
“It is obvious that there is a need to create more public awareness and the need for victims to take up cases with solid support of the movement. Without this, cases like this will continue to occur with limited or no option for proper adjudication for justice”,the TIER spokesman said.
In Nigeria, same-sex relationships are illegal, and the maximum punishment for same-sex sexual activity is 14 years’ imprisonment.