Nigeria is perhaps one of the most corrupt countries in Africa with a long history of human rights violations by government and government forces, as well as the Nigerian Police Force, beginning shortly after it gained independence in 1960.

Between 1960 and 1998 it had two elected Heads of State, one appointed Head of State, followed by a military successor, and has experienced seven coup d’états in which the existing government was overthrown and a new one installed only to be overthrown itself.

In 1979, the country moved to a presidential system under a new constitution.  The Nigerian Constitution does guarantee fundamental human rights, but these are frequently flouted and ignored by the various government regimes that come into power.

Under General Ibrahim Babangida, who took power in 1985, there was a brief period of ensuring human rights were adhered to.  However, he soon moved to silencing his critics by jailing those who criticized the government and firing government employees who did not promote the views of the regime.  The Babangida regime was responsible for shutting down more newspaper and other news outlets, jailing more journalists and outright banning popular organizations within Nigeria than any other post-colonial regime.

The Joint Task Force (JTF) of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) has engaged in extra-judicial killings, using suspect techniques to ferret out those involved with Boko Haram, a jihadist organization, mainly in the Northeast of Nigeria, that is waging a guerilla war against what it views as ‘Westernization’ and involved in the bombing of churches, schools, and police stations.  The JTF has been accused of often killing suspects before they are able to go to trial.

There is also a high degree of corruption within the NPF itself with accusations of embezzlement, extortion and bribery.  There appears to be very little, if any, accountability in place when it comes to the NPF or the JTF.

Nigerian politicians are little better, often paying gangs to rig elections and intimidate voters.  A conservatively estimated 300 people were killed by gangs during the 2007 election in which  gang members openly stuffed ballot boxes with ballots favouring the politician paying them to do so.

This, then, is the culture in which a new law, the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act, has been signed into law by the current President, Goodluck Jonathan.

The legislation further criminalizes homosexuality and outlaws any LGBT organization.  People can face up to ten to fourteen years in prison for belonging to a LGBT organization and/or for having gay sex.

The police have already been accused of not only targeting gay men, but torturing them to name others who are in turn then hunted down, arrested, tortured and according to some allegations, killed by police.

Part of what fuels these persecutions are rumours the United States paid gay and lesbian activists $20 million to promote same-sex marriage and, by extension, ‘sodomy’ and other ‘unnatural acts’.

Dorothy Aken’Ova, Executive Director of Nigeria’s International Centre for Reproductive Health and Sexual Rights, who is involved with helping to obtain legal services for those gay men arrested by police, has stated entrapment is one of the tools, along with intimidation and outright torture, used to discover who is involved, or reputed to be involved, with the now outlawed LGBT organizations.  She claimed a law enforcement officer pretended to be a gay man and joined an HIV/AIDS support group, resulting in the arrest of four men belonging to the group who were then allegedly tortured to obtain names of other men in the group or other LGBT groups.

Islam and Evangelical Christianity are the two dominant religions within Nigeria, with Islam especially dominant in the North - imams and other clerics hold considerable influence.  Twelve northern states have incorporated some form of Shar’ia law into their criminal statutes.  Nigeria consists of 36 states along with the federal capital territory, Abuja - roughly equivalent to the District of Columbia in the US.

Bauchi, one of the twelve northern states in which Shari’a law is dominant, has engaged in not only persecuting gay men and lesbians, but also in the torture and murder of over one thousand children reputed to be ‘witches’ in the decade ending in 2009.  These murders were not only conducted under Shari’a law but also by Christian pastors seeking, it is reputed, to establish their credentials.

The chairman of the Bauchi State Shariah Commission, which oversees the regulation of Shari’a law, Mustapha Baba Ilela, told Associated Press that in the first two weeks of 2014, eleven gay men had been arrested and ‘interviewed’ (an euphemism for torture) by police and said community members had helped to "fish out" the suspects.  In other words, informed on them.  He added "we are on the hunt for others."

Olumide Makanjuola, runs the Nigerian Initiative for Equality chapter, now one of the outlawed gay rights and HIV/AIDS education organizations, and his lawyers are involved in the lawsuits of various gay men arrested without cause by the police.  He has stated police regularly confiscate a suspect’s cell phone, illegally go through its directory, and then send text messages, which of course appear to be from the suspect, in order to lure in others who are then also detained, often beaten and tortured, and forced to incriminate themselves and supply names of yet more individuals.

There is widespread concern, both within Nigeria and internationally, that with the passing of this law, attacks against and persecution of both lesbians and gay men as well as transsexuals will significantly increase.  There have already been numerous reports of mob violence against gay men or men perceived to be gay.

Because the law criminalizes anyone who provides services for lesbians and gay men or supports LGBT groups, the list of people who could be arrested under the law is long and varied and likely includes heterosexual allies as well as lesbians and gay men.

There is also a very real concern that, with this further criminalization of homosexuality, homosexual acts, gay-affirmative organizations, and HIV/AIDS Service Organizations will also be targeted.  However, even if they are not - and there does not appear to be any guarantee they won’t be - the new law will have a serious impact on men seeking services from ASOs; they simply will not risk approaching such organizations and will go underground.  This, in turn, will increase the incidence of HIV infection and will ultimately create an even greater health crisis in Nigeria than it already faces, as does most of Sub-Saharan Africa, when it comes to HIV/AIDS.