A Magistrates’ Court in Minna on Wednesday, remanded a cobbler, Tahiru Abdullahi, 55, in prison for allegedly engaging in homosexuality. Abdullahi was arraigned on a count charge of committing an unnatural offence, contrary to Section 284 of the Penal Code. The Prosecutor, Insp. Muazu Abdullahi, told court that one Abubakar Mohammed of Galadima Area in Kontagora, Niger reported the matter at a police station on Aug. 6. Abdullahi said that the complainant had alleged that the defendant lured his seven-year-old son into his house and had sexual intercourse with the boy through his anus on two separate occasions.
He said the defendant confessed to committing the crime during police investigation. When the charge was read to the accused, he pleaded guilty and begged the court for leniency. The Presiding Magistrate, Mariam Kings, declined to take the plea of the accused, saying that the court lacked jurisdiction to try the case. Kings directed the police to forward the case file to the state’s director of public prosecutions for advice. She adjourned the case until Sept. 7 for further mention.
