Sixty-nine LGBT suspects who were apprehended on August 27 during a gay wedding ceremony in Ekpan Community, Uvwie Local Government Area (LGA) of Delta have been granted bail.
Mr Ochuko Ohimor, counsel to the accused, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Warri that they had been admitted to bail with N500,000 and two sureties apiece.
The sureties, according to Ohimor, must live within the Court’s Effurun jurisdiction.
He went on to say that the suspects must sign an undertaking at the State High Court of Justice, Effurun, in Uvwie LGA, where they were previously arraigned on September 4.
“The suspects were granted bail for N500,000 with two sureties each.” “The sureties must live within the jurisdiction of Effurun,” Ohimor told NAN.
The police prosecutor, Vincent Orarumen, had objected to the bail restriction, but their lawyer maintained that the suspected crime was not a capital offense.
The accused were paraded before the media on August 29 at the Ekpan Police Station at the request of Delta State Commissioner of Police (CP), Mr Wale Abass.
They were apprehended by a special team of police agents from the Ekpan Division while executing a gay wedding ceremony dubbed “all white party.”
While paraded the suspects, the CP pledged to prosecute them in accordance with Nigeria’s Anti-Gay Law, which he claims outlaws same-sex marriage in the country.
“I can guarantee that they will be charged to court. We are not taking it lightly. It is a clear case, though, they are still presumed innocent until proven otherwise by the competent court,” he said.