Nigerian authorities have arrested more than 70 young people after accusing them of organising a gay wedding in northeastern Gombe State, a security spokesperson said.
Same-sex marriage is illegal in Nigeria under a 2014 law. Officers with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), an official paramilitary outfit, stormed a gathering in Gombe on Saturday, arresting suspects they accused of having a "gay party" and planning a wedding of two male lovers.
Gombe is a majority-Muslim northern state where Sharia law runs alongside the country's secular law.
Confessions
"We apprehended 76 suspected homosexuals holding a birthday party organised by one of them who was to wed his male bride at the event," Buhari Saad, an NSCDC spokesperson, said.
The suspects included 59 men and 17 women, with 21 of the men "willfully confessing being gay", he said.
The would-be groom was arrested while the bride-to-be fled along with other guests, the official said.
"We will charge them in court to answer for their actions once investigation is concluded," Saad said.
Homosexuality is punishable by death under Sharia in northern Nigeria, although that sentence has never been enforced.
In 2014 Nigeria passed legislation outlawing same-sex marriages and the promotion of civil unions.
Nigeria's Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act carries penalties of up to 14 years in jail for anyone confirmed to be in a gay union.
