More than 100 people were arrested for attending a gay wedding in Nigeria under the country’s draconian homosexuality laws.

Police stormed a hotel in Ekpan town, Delta state, southern Nigeria, at around 2am on Monday and arrested more than 100 “gay suspects”. 

At least sixty-seven people have been detained.

Two of those detained in the arrests, one of the country’s largest targeting homosexuality, got married at the event, Delta State Command spokesman Bright Edafe told a press conference. 

He said homosexuality would “never be tolerated” in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with some 230 million inhabitants.

"The amazing part of it was that we saw two suspects, and there is a video recording where they were performing their wedding ceremony," he said.

"We are in Africa and we are in Nigeria. We cannot copy the Western world because we don’t have the same culture."

He reiterated that police officers in Nigeria "cannot fold their hands" and watch gay people openly express their orientation in the country. 

"This is not something that will be allowed in Nigeria," he said, adding that the suspects will be charged in court at the end of the investigation.

Arrests of gay people are common in the West African country, where the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act prohibits same sex relationships. 

The law means that anyone belonging to a gay organisation can get up to 10 years in jail, and anyone married to someone of the same sex can get up to 14 years.

The law, enacted by president Goodluck Jonathan in 2013, has been condemned by several Western countries. 

Then US secretary of state John Kerry said it  "dangerously restricts freedom" of expression and association of all Nigerians.

Britain and Canada also criticised the law, which was introduced with little announcement or fanfare

The UK Foreign Office said the law “infringes upon fundamental rights of expression and association”.

Immediately after the act was introduced reports emerged of police hunting down and torturing gay people.

Campaigners also alleged that gay men were tortured into naming dozens of others to be arrested.

Mr Jonathan, who was ousted from office in Nigeria’s 2015 election, never publicly expressed his views on homosexuality.

But his spokesperson defended it, saying the law was “in line with the people’s cultural and religious inclination”.

A religious country, just over half of the population in Nigeria is Muslim while around 46 per cent are Christian, according to the CIA World Factbook.

Some 33 of the 69 countries that criminalise same-sex relations are in Africa, according to Human Rights Watch. By Matt Mathers, Independent

NHS records of migrants are to have a Home Office reference number attached to them, prompting concerns about potential tracking, privacy rights and the expansion of the “hostile environment”.

A previous scheme using NHS data to track down patients believed to be breaching immigration rules was abandoned after a legal challenge from health and civil liberties organisations warning of a breach of patient confidentiality, discrimination against non-British patients and a risk of deterring people from seeking medical help. 

But concerns are being voiced about a new development after NHS England was directed by a senior civil servant writing on behalf of the health secretary, Steve Barclay, to accept and store “Home Office reference numbers” in the records of “relevant patients”.

The British Medical Association said it would be examining the move to ensure it did not recreate “via the back door” a system similar to the tracking scheme that was scrapped in 2018.

Under the new direction, the Home Office reference numbers, which have no value to the NHS, would be attached to the personal demographics service (PDS), the electronic database of patient demographic data, such as name, address, date of birth and NHS number.

The NHS gets notification of migrants who pay the immigration health surcharge – a fee paid by many but not all visa applicants seeking to stay in the UK for more than six months in order to access NHS services – but the reference number is now being added in a way that would allow the Home Office to track records.

Home Office documents state that the move relates to the collection of charges for overseas visitors using the NHS, which does not apply to groups such as people with settled status or on so-called skilled worker visas.

The Home Office also rejects the idea that the reference number will be used for immigration enforcement.

Nevertheless, concerns were voiced by organisations including the Migrants’ Rights Network (MRN), whose legal challenge forced the scrapping of a tracking scheme in 2018. 

Fizza Qureshi, the chief executive of the Migrants’ Rights Network, said: “Data-sharing agreements between different public agencies that allow the Home Office to access people’s personal information for immigration enforcement purposes is incredibly worrying for migrants’ privacy and data rights.

“The introduction of a Home Office reference number to NHS records for migrants signals the growing trend to ignore and abuse patient privacy and data rights for migrants.

“This new process feels and sounds discriminatory, and will likely be used as an immigration enforcement tool to further harm migrants, and deter them from accessing vital healthcare. The NHS should not be doing the Home Office’s bidding by storing this information, and should be firstly thinking of patient confidentiality and their privacy.”

The development has also sparked unease among healthcare unions.

Dr Jan Wise, the BMA’s medical ethics committee chair, said: “The BMA was instrumental in having the dangerous memorandum of understanding between the Home Office, DHSC and NHS England scrapped in 2018 and has spoken out more generally about the inappropriate use of health records by the government. We will be examining this new development closely to ensure that it is not an attempt to recreate a similar system via the back door.”

Helga Pile, Unison’s deputy head of health, said: “Gathering this data is alarming. Confidentiality is vital for patients when they seek treatment.

“Having the shadow of the Home Office looming over every health consultation will erode trust in the NHS. And these are people who’ve paid thousands of pounds to access services, on top of tax.

“The pandemic underlined the importance of retaining confidence in medical services and public health advice. But use of this data is ripe for abuse and mistakes, and risks undermining the work of the NHS.”

The development applies to records held by NHS England, which leads the health service in England and is separate to other devolved jurisdictions of the UK.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Home Office shares data with the NHS to ensure individuals can access healthcare free of charge where they are entitled to treatment. The use of a reference number is an established part of these data-sharing arrangements and there is no new reference number being introduced. To suggest otherwise is wrong.”

Home Office sources said its unique reference number, known as the UID2, is used in the digital checking service, which enables the NHS to accurately identify the correct Home Office record when determining if an individual should be charged for healthcare.

The legal order to the NHS England chief executive, Amanda Pritchard, was issued on 9 June and then noted at a board meeting in July.

Sam Smith at medConfidential, a data privacy campaign group, expressed concerns about the process by which the NHS was instructed to start storing the reference numbers.

“The NHS was told to implement a political decision requested by the Home Office, but chose to do so before the NHS England board met to approve the direction,” he said. “The choice to move at a speed makes a mockery of NHS data governance that is supposed to be independent and offer scrutiny.”

NHS trusts have discretion on how to identify patients and where they are from, according to the NHS. Ben Quinn Political correspondent, Guardian

The National Police Service (NPS) is scheduled to conduct public participation on proposed changes in police uniforms.

According to a post by the NPS on Tuesday, August 29, the exercise will run for three days, and at different locations each day.

“The National Police Service kindly invites members of the public to participate in the selection process for the proposed Kenya Police Service uniform.” the post read. 

“The exercise will be held as scheduled below August 29, 2023 - Kenya Police Pavilion, South C, Nairobi. Wednesday, August 30, 2023 - Central Region at Ruring'u Police Training College Thursday, August 31, 2023, at National Police College-Main Campus Kiganjo." 

The changes have elicited mixed reactions among netizens, with a section lauding the move, as others called for the removal of pockets to control bribe collection by rogue officers. 

“We do not need the police to change their uniform every two years. We need them to change their attitude and work on their work ethic which is sub-zero,” a Twitter user wrote. 

“Police uniform should not have pockets,” another user, Geoffrey Wageni, opined.

The proposed uniform has the same colour as the previous uniform which was phased out during the tenure of former Interior Cabinet Secretary.  

If the changes are successfully implemented, the officers will go back to wearing sky-blue shirts with navy blue pants as before.

However, the changes will incorporate a few modifications like the national flag and police service logo on the arms. By Winfrey Owino, The Standard

August 27, 2023 (JUBA) – General Abdel Fatah al-Burhan engaged in a conversation with South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir on Saturday subsequent to his departure from Khartoum through a military operation executed by his troops on August 24, 2023.

Tut Gatluak, South Sudan’s Presidential Adviser on Security Affairs, told Sudan Tribune that Kiir and al-Burhan had a telephone call where Kiir reiterated his commitment to supporting initiatives aimed at terminating the ongoing conflict.

Gatluak stated, “Communication underscores General Salva Kiir Mayardit’s commitment to finding a lasting solution for Sudan’s situation. The path forward lies in peace dialogues rather than destructive warfare.”

However, he refrained from disclosing specific details of the telephone conversation.

Insider sources from South Sudan’s presidential palace and individuals with direct insight informed Sudan Tribune that the conversation was arranged in advance by both the Sudanese embassy and South Sudanese security. The objective was to secure clearance for the leaders to engage in dialogue. Additionally, sources from the office of Sudan’s Sovereign Council Deputy Chairman, Malik Agar, conveyed separately to Sudan Tribune that Agar had initiated contact with South Sudan’s presidential office to facilitate the dialogue.

Since the commencement of the conflict in April 2023, South Sudan has emerged as a regional advocate for peaceful conflict resolution. President Kiir has expressed his willingness to mediate, provided that the opposing leaders are amenable to his proposal.

Initially, President Kiir, alongside the Presidents of Kenya and Djibouti, had planned to visit Khartoum the day after the conflict erupted in the capital. However, due to deteriorating security conditions and the closure of the Khartoum airport, the trip was deferred until new arrangements could be made.

The two nations remain closely intertwined politically and economically, with populations freely circulating between them. The demarcation of the border between the two countries is still pending.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were assigned the task of safeguarding refineries and pipelines. They took control of these strategic installations after the outbreak of war on April 15. However, the paramilitary force has not thus far interrupted oil pumping or its transportation to Port Sudan for international exportation. - Sudan Tribune

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