Four young men have beenconvicted of gay sex and whipped publicly as punishment in an Islamic court in northern Nigeria, according to a human rights activist.
The four were sentenced and punished on Thursday to 15 strokes. They also face a year's imprisonment if they cannot pay a fine of $120.
The men, aged between 20 and 22, should not have been convicted because their confessions were forced through beatings, said Dorothy Aken'Ova, the convenor of the Coalition for the Defence of Sexual Rights Network.
She said they had to prostrate themselves on the floor of the court to be whipped on their bottoms.
Aken'Ova said the families refused an offer of legal representation and were embarrassed by the stigma attached to homosexuality, which many highly religious Nigerians consider an evil imported from the West.
The hearings in Bauchi city, the capital of the state of the same name, had been delayed from January, when a crowd tried to stone the accused men outside the court and demanded the judge pass the death sentence.
Security officials had to fire into the air to save the men and disperse the crowd.
Under Islamic law in some north Nigerian states, homosexuals can be sentenced to death by stoning or lethal injection, though that sentence has never been enforced.
The judge said he was lenient because the men had promised that the homosexual acts occurred in the past and that they had since changed their ways, according to Aken'Ova.
The four were among dozens caught in a wave of arrests after Nigeria strengthened its criminal penalties for homosexuality with the new Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act in January.
Aljazeera
Friday, March 7, 2014
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Makoko's floating school struggles to stay afloat
A floating school in Nigeria has been nominated for a prestigious Design of the Year award in London, but the Lagos State government has threatened to demolish it and the area to make way for development.
Whanyinna Primay School is kept afloat by 250 empty barrels and is made of bamboo and timber.
It was built as a solution to allow children to attend class during the country's rainy season, when many buildings flood.
Related stories: Video - homeless battle in Makoko
President Goodluck Jonathan's cousin kidnapped
The kidnappers of Chief Inengite Nitabai, cousin to President Goodluck Jonathan have reportedly rejected the N30m offered by his family for his release.
Chief Nitabai, a former lecturer at the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt was abducted penultimate Sunday at his Otuoke country home in Ogbia local government area of Bayelsa State by ten armed men.
The kidnapped chief is the traditional head of the compound from which the President hails from.
He was also said to have played a major role in the training of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan during his school days as an undergraduate and post graduate student.
Nitabai, it was also learnt has been acting like a father to the President since Jonathan’s real biological father died, it was further learnt.
The alleged rejection of the family offer is coming on heels of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) worldwide warning to the embattled Nitabai family that no ransom should be paid to the kidnappers.
The abductors, it would be recalled, had contacted the victim’s family four days after he was whisked away demanding a whooping sum of N500m as ransom to set him free.
A source source close to the Nitabai family told Vanguard that the troubled family instead offered to pay his abductors N30m which they rejected.
“They (kidnappers) rejected the N30m offer which they described as laughable coming from a family linked to the President,” the source said.
Also a security source who pleaded anonymity confirmed the development saying, “we are aware that the family is negotiating with the kidnappers and that they are demanding N500m which the family described as outrageous. They instead offered to part with N30 which the kidnappers were said to have rejected.”
Contacted, the state police public relations officer, Mr. Alex Akhigbe, DSP said he was not aware of the demand.
He however said its operatives deployed in the creeks are making progress in their search for the kidnapped chief.
Meanwhile, the Ijaw Youth Council IYC has warned the family of Chief Nitabai not to pay any ransom to the kidnappers.
The IYC described the action of the kidnappers as crime which the council would not condone.
It said the three man committee it set up to work with security agencies to fish out the kidnappers of Chief Inengite Nitabai are making tremendous progress to secure his release.
Spokesman of the IYC, Eric Omare who disclosed this to newsmen shortly after the inaugural meeting of the council at the Ijaw House in Yenagoa said the identity of the three man committee working with the security agents would not be disclosed for security reasons as serious progress has been made to free the septuagenarian.
Omare added that the committee has established contacts with his captors assuring that in no distance time he would be released.
“In consonance with the position of the IYC we have advised the relevant persons not to offer any ransom in order to effect the release of Mr President uncle because if we offer ransom we are encouraging more kidnapping.
“IYC position is that criminality must be erased from Ijawland, so we have told them not to offer any ransom, though he has not been released but we are very sure in the next few days or hours we would effect his release,” he said.
Vanguard
Chief Nitabai, a former lecturer at the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt was abducted penultimate Sunday at his Otuoke country home in Ogbia local government area of Bayelsa State by ten armed men.
The kidnapped chief is the traditional head of the compound from which the President hails from.
He was also said to have played a major role in the training of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan during his school days as an undergraduate and post graduate student.
Nitabai, it was also learnt has been acting like a father to the President since Jonathan’s real biological father died, it was further learnt.
The alleged rejection of the family offer is coming on heels of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) worldwide warning to the embattled Nitabai family that no ransom should be paid to the kidnappers.
The abductors, it would be recalled, had contacted the victim’s family four days after he was whisked away demanding a whooping sum of N500m as ransom to set him free.
A source source close to the Nitabai family told Vanguard that the troubled family instead offered to pay his abductors N30m which they rejected.
“They (kidnappers) rejected the N30m offer which they described as laughable coming from a family linked to the President,” the source said.
Also a security source who pleaded anonymity confirmed the development saying, “we are aware that the family is negotiating with the kidnappers and that they are demanding N500m which the family described as outrageous. They instead offered to part with N30 which the kidnappers were said to have rejected.”
Contacted, the state police public relations officer, Mr. Alex Akhigbe, DSP said he was not aware of the demand.
He however said its operatives deployed in the creeks are making progress in their search for the kidnapped chief.
Meanwhile, the Ijaw Youth Council IYC has warned the family of Chief Nitabai not to pay any ransom to the kidnappers.
The IYC described the action of the kidnappers as crime which the council would not condone.
It said the three man committee it set up to work with security agencies to fish out the kidnappers of Chief Inengite Nitabai are making tremendous progress to secure his release.
Spokesman of the IYC, Eric Omare who disclosed this to newsmen shortly after the inaugural meeting of the council at the Ijaw House in Yenagoa said the identity of the three man committee working with the security agents would not be disclosed for security reasons as serious progress has been made to free the septuagenarian.
Omare added that the committee has established contacts with his captors assuring that in no distance time he would be released.
“In consonance with the position of the IYC we have advised the relevant persons not to offer any ransom in order to effect the release of Mr President uncle because if we offer ransom we are encouraging more kidnapping.
“IYC position is that criminality must be erased from Ijawland, so we have told them not to offer any ransom, though he has not been released but we are very sure in the next few days or hours we would effect his release,” he said.
Vanguard
Nigeria draws with Mexico in football friendly
Mexico and Nigeria played out an evenly-matched 0-0 draw in front of a record crowd in their 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil warm-up match.
Both sides started the match tentatively as Nigeria’s backline, consisting of Godfrey Oboabona, Efe Ambrose, Kenneth Omeruo and Elderson Echiejile, were able to keep Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez and Oribe Peralta at bay.
For Nigeria’s attack, Liverpool’s Victor Moses and Fenerbahce’s Emmanuel Emenike looked like the most likely sources of goals for the Super Eagles.
Moses had a penalty appeal denied in the 8th minute, while three minutes later, Emenike broke through inside Mexico’s penalty area only for Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa to save.
Nigeria and Mexico have drawn their last two meetings.
The two teams had chances to get on the scoreboard but thanks to outstanding play from Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa and Nigeria shot-stoppers Vincent Enyeama and Austin Ejide, the friendly ended in a draw.
Mexico had the last significant chance of the match in the 73rd minute when substitute Raul Jimenez failed to react in time to a driven cross from the left flank, resulting in a Nigerian goal kick.
There were debuts for Michael Uchebo, Ramon Azeez, Imoh Ezekiel and Leon Balogun, the last-minute replacement for injured skipper Joseph Yobo in front of a record crowd of 68,220 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
The Super Eagles Team vs Mexico
Vincent Enyeama (Ejide 46) – Elderson, Efe Ambrose (Leon Balogun 46)(Azubuike Egwuekwe 66), Godfrey Oboabona, Kenneth Omeruo – Ogenyi Onazi, Mikel, Ahmed Musa – Victor Moses, Emmanuel Emenike, Michael Uchebo (Ramon Azeez 46)
Vanguard
Both sides started the match tentatively as Nigeria’s backline, consisting of Godfrey Oboabona, Efe Ambrose, Kenneth Omeruo and Elderson Echiejile, were able to keep Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez and Oribe Peralta at bay.
For Nigeria’s attack, Liverpool’s Victor Moses and Fenerbahce’s Emmanuel Emenike looked like the most likely sources of goals for the Super Eagles.
Moses had a penalty appeal denied in the 8th minute, while three minutes later, Emenike broke through inside Mexico’s penalty area only for Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa to save.
Nigeria and Mexico have drawn their last two meetings.
The two teams had chances to get on the scoreboard but thanks to outstanding play from Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa and Nigeria shot-stoppers Vincent Enyeama and Austin Ejide, the friendly ended in a draw.
Mexico had the last significant chance of the match in the 73rd minute when substitute Raul Jimenez failed to react in time to a driven cross from the left flank, resulting in a Nigerian goal kick.
There were debuts for Michael Uchebo, Ramon Azeez, Imoh Ezekiel and Leon Balogun, the last-minute replacement for injured skipper Joseph Yobo in front of a record crowd of 68,220 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
The Super Eagles Team vs Mexico
Vincent Enyeama (Ejide 46) – Elderson, Efe Ambrose (Leon Balogun 46)(Azubuike Egwuekwe 66), Godfrey Oboabona, Kenneth Omeruo – Ogenyi Onazi, Mikel, Ahmed Musa – Victor Moses, Emmanuel Emenike, Michael Uchebo (Ramon Azeez 46)
Vanguard
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Nigerians ready to be evacuated from Ukraine
As tensions continue to rise between Russia and Ukraine over the Crimea, the Nigerian Government has said it is closely monitoring events as they unfold, and would immediately evacuate its citizens if the need arises.
An estimated 7000 Nigerians are resident across Ukraine with at least 5000 of them studying in tertiary institutions across the country. 170 Nigerians are also studying in the Crimea, the flashpoint of the unfolding crises.
The Supervising Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuliri speaking with THISDAY in Abuja Tuesday night said the Ministry has been in constant touch with its Mission in Kiev since the crises started.
This Day
An estimated 7000 Nigerians are resident across Ukraine with at least 5000 of them studying in tertiary institutions across the country. 170 Nigerians are also studying in the Crimea, the flashpoint of the unfolding crises.
The Supervising Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuliri speaking with THISDAY in Abuja Tuesday night said the Ministry has been in constant touch with its Mission in Kiev since the crises started.
This Day
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