More than 70 young people were arrested on Saturday by security forces on charges of organising a gay wedding in north-east Nigeria, where such unions are criminalised and violence against the LGBT+ community is widespread. Same-sex marriage is illegal in Nigeria under a 2014 law, and punishable by 14 years in prison. “We apprehended 76 suspected homosexuals at a birthday party organised by one of them who was due to marry his fiancé at the event,” said Buhari Saad, the spokesman for the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Gombe State, a paramilitary organisation under the government.