The newly passed Nigerian anti-gay bill, Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act, is allowing for gays to be targeted, hunt down, arrested and sentenced with a penalty of 10 years in jail, the Associated Press reported.
In the Nigeria Bauchi state, police officers were arresting gay men and allegedly torturing them for more names of gay men, the AP reported.
The "witch hunt" for gays began with a rumor stating the United States paid $20 million to gay activists in exchange for their promoting same-sex marriage, according to an AIDs counselor who asked to remain unnamed for fear of being arrested, the AP reported.
The law was signed and passed unanimously by lawmakers on Dec. 17, and was quietly signed into law on Jan. 7 by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, though the country already has laws in place against gays, the AP reported.
Being called the "Jail the Gays" bill, the law endangers the lives of homosexuals and community programs fighting HIV-AIDS, according to Dorothy Aken'Ova, executive director of Nigeria's International Center for Reproductive Health and Sexual Rights, the AP reported.
Aken'Ova said dozens of homosexuals have already left Bauchi in the past couple of days, adding that gay men have been leaving and getting arrested since the Christmas holidays, according to the AP.
Recently, Aken'Ova said a Nigerian police officer joined the HIV-AIDs community group pretending to be a gay man so he could arrest them afterwards, the AP reported. Police arrested four gay men and then tortured them into identifying other gay men who were part of the gay organization.
The HIV-AIDs organization run by Aken'Ova is currently helping the arrested gay men with legal services and she reported 168 gay men are on a list and being hunted by the police, the AP reported.
The Bauchi state is ruled by both Shariah law, or Islamic law which is used differently in nine of 36 states in Nigeria, along with a "Western-style penal code," the AP reported.
Chairman Mustapha Baba Ilela of Bauchi state Shariah Commission, announced 11 gay men have been arrested so far, but said "they have never been tortured, they have never been beaten, they have never been intimidated," according to the AP.
Ilela said they gay men were found by community members who helped "fish out" the "suspects," adding that they "are on the hunt for others," but did not give an exact number, the AP reported.
Olumide Makanjuola, who runs the Initiative For Equality in Nigeria, said police are taking the phones of gay men who were arrested and texting others to "lure" them in, the AP reported. When the men or women arrive, they are told they will be arrested and their sexuality exposed unless they pay a bribe.
"Some pay 5,000, some 10,000 naira ($30 to $60). Even though they have done nothing wrong, people are scared, people are afraid that even worse things will happen," Makanjuola told the AP.
