NIGERIA: “HOMOSEXUAL CROSSDRESSER” BLAMED FOR BOMB ATTACK

Nigerian security forces could be using an innocent “homosexual cross-dresser” as a scapegoat for a deadly suicide bomb attack last week.

The explosion at the Kawo market in Kaduna is believed to have been an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate the country’s former military ruler Major General Muhammadu Buhari.

Last Wednesday’s attack killed the bomber, injured three of Buhari’s aides and killed over 80 people.

The Osun Defender reported that “a clearly homosexual man dressed as a woman was arrested shortly after the attempt on Buhari’s life in the vicinity of the explosion” and, according to the Department of State Services, he has been “linked to the assassination attempt.”

The newspaper, however, suggested that it was only after likely being beaten by the authorities that the suspect “admitted” that he and four others had been paid by armed leader Asari Dokubo to stage the attack.

The opposition APC party further rubbished the reports that the man was involved and questioned the security forces’ capacity and motives in the investigation.

“How does one explain a situation in which a man who is nothing but a pervert is now being paraded as the suspected ‘mastermind’ of the attack on General Buhari?” asked the APC in a clearly homophobic statement. “At what point was this man, who perhaps is nothing but a transvestite, plying his trade, arrested?”

The APC added: “Clearly, the arrest of the pervert and his sickening description as a ‘suspected mastermind’ have kick-started the process of muddling the waters…”

It suggested that the government could be behind the attack and was now blaming it on “innocent passers-by,” and called for an international investigation.

Nigerian anti-gay sentiment has swelled in recent months after the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act earlier this year further outlawed same-sex relationships and anyone who supports or operates gay clubs, societies and organisations.

Gay sex was already illegal in Nigeria, with penalties including 14 years imprisonment. Twelve northern states in Nigeria operate under Islamic Sharia law that allows homosexuality to be punished with death by stoning.