It has been confirmed that only 21 out of the 76 persons arrested by the Gombe State Command of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), are homosexuals.
The confirmation was made by the Commandant, Muhammad Bello while speaking to Journalists on Thursday in Gombe, shortly after a meeting by the State Reformation Committee, chaired by retired Khadi Baba Liman.
The NSCDC Commandant, Muhammad Bello, revealed that upon the arrest of the 76 suspected homosexuals, they were filtered and profiled during the course of investigations to ascertain their status.
According to him, it was after the due investigation that 21 among the suspects actually confessed to being homosexuals, stressing that efforts are on to reform them to make them better people.
The Commandant added, “We identified those that were, directly and indirectly involved, fair enough, we decided to bail out those that were not directly involved.”
He stressed, “One thing significant is that, we did not impose the statuses on them, but rather, they identified themselves that they are homosexuals and that they want to transfer from being males to females.”
Muhammad Bello added, “They exhibited this in so many platforms by showing the desire to change their sexes which is uncalled for and not desirable.”
“Currently, while we were able to come up with 21 of them because previously they were 22 in number but checking them closely, we realised that a child of about 12-13 years was among them, so, we decided to take him out of the midst,” he added.
He also disclosed that the Command approached health agencies to confirm their well-being, noting that there were positive cases among the suspects.
According to him, “We approached Gombe State AIDS Control Agency to confirm their statuses. We realised that there were some that have contracted HIV.”
He added, “We also took them to the General Hospital to confirm further about other areas, on whether they had other sickness only to realise that some of them have hepatitis.”
“When they submitted the report, we asked for the typology of the hepatitis to be sure, then the results confirmed that some have hepatitis B,” Muhammad Bello added.
While affirming the respect of human rights, Muhammad Bello noted that the Command would continue to respect fundamental human rights.
“What I want the entire world to know is that, we are not subjecting them to prison treatment as some are circulating. The most things is to opt for a better alternative towards reforming these people to become better human beings,” he stressed.
According to him, “The Gombe NSCDC will not contravene any existing laws or any rights that they are entitled to, as suspects, they are entitled to protection as enshrined in the law.”
On the essence of the multi-sectoral Committee set up by Gombe State Government, Muhammad Bello said that, “it is a way forward for reformation. The idea is on how to see how they (suspects) can be reformed.”
Also speaking, Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, Gombe chapter, Rev Joseph Shinga, urged the state government to support the suspects towards becoming better residents.
According to him, “they can still be reformed to become better persons in society.”
It be recalled that the NSCDC operatives had arrested 76 persons at Duwa Plaza along Bauchi-Gombe road, where it was alleged that they were about to conduct a botched same-sex marriage.