Dozens arrrested in Northern Nigeria as anti-gay law comes into force

According to this report, they have started
arresting people suspected to be gays in the
Northern part of the country. Here's an article I found on UK Guardian. Read below

Dozens of gay men are reported to have been arrested across northern Nigeria as police begin to enforce
punitive new laws that criminalize
same-sex marriages and membership of
gay rights organizations. Dorothy Aken'Ova, executive director of the country's International Centre for Reproductive Health and Sexual Rights, said that the legislation, hailed the "Jail the Gays" law, had led to mass
arrests.
Police in Bauchi state, she claimed, had a list of 168 purportedly gay men, of whom 38 had been arrested.
The laws, she cautioned, will endanger
medical programmes combating HIV-Aids in the gay community. Nigeria has the second-largest HIV epidemic globally with an estimated 3.4 million people living with HIV.

Responding to the spread of anti-gay
legislation,Kerry said: "The United States is
deeply concerned by Nigeria's enactment of
the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act.
Beyond even prohibiting same-sex marriage,
this law dangerously restricts freedom of assembly, association and expression for all
Nigerians.

"[The law] is inconsistent with Nigeria's
international legal obligations and
undermines the democratic reforms and
human rights protections enshrined in its 1999 constitution," he added.
"People everywhere deserve to live in
freedom and equality. No one should face
violence or discrimination for who they are or who they love."
The London-based Human Dignity Trust, which supports legal actions around the world aimed at overturning anti-gay legislation, criticised both the Nigerian and Ugandan acts.
Jonathan Cooper, the trust's chief executive,
has described the Ugandan legislation as "a
bleak day for human rights. The bill undermines Uganda's human rights protection, breaches its international treaty
obligations and violates Uganda's own
constitution".
One of the men whose legal challenges the
trust supported, Roger Jean-Claude Mbede, 34, died this week after being removed from
hospital by his family. He had been jailed in
Cameroon for sending a text message to
another man saying: "I'm very much in love
with you".
Mbede, whose case was highlighted by the Guardian in 2012, was subsequently declared a prisoner of
conscience by Amnesty International. His lawyer, Alice Nkom, said: "[Mbede's] family said he was a curse for them and that we
should let him die."