By Renson Mwakandana
19 Muslims were detained by the Islamic police force in the largest city – KANO in northern Nigeria 🇳🇬 on suspicion of attending a same-sex marriage.
According to the force’s spokesperson Lawal Ibrahim Fagge, a tip-off led to the raid on the wedding in Kano. He claimed that the pair, who had not yet exchanged vows, had managed to escape and that police were looking for them.
With a predominance of Muslims, Kano has both a secular legal system and an Islamic one.
Nigeria’s Northern residents are predominately Muslims and those in the South are predominately Christians. Homosexual activities are prohibited by both legal systems. The Hisbah, a well-known Islamic police agency in Kano, upholds a rigid moral code.
The police did not aim to penalize the 15 male and 4 female wedding guests who were detained during the Sunday raid, according to Mr. Fagge.
Mr. Fagge said that the group—which he claimed to include homosexual individuals and transgender people—was receiving “counselling,” and their guardians or parents had been pushed to speak up.
“We’ll explore the avenue of change before we charge them in court. First, we counsel them, and involve the parents and we hope they change their lifestyle,” the Hisbah spokesman said.
Islamic courts in Kano have never found anyone guilty of being homosexual. According to Mr. Fagge, 18 attendees of a comparable wedding ceremony last year who signed a paper promising to “change their lifestyle” were freed.
Gay rights advocates in Nigeria have long fought for their rights, but there is fierce hostility in a nation where many Muslims and Christians follow traditional religious beliefs. Kano is one of the 12 states in northern Nigeria that adopted sharia law in 2000, where Islamic courts coexist with the local legal system.
