Mob stones 7 suspected homosexuals in Bauchi

THE quick intervention of security personnel on Wednesday saved the lives of seven persons arraigned before a Bauchi upper sharia at Anguwan Jaki area of Bauchi metropolis.
There was pandemonium in the area, following firing of gunshots and the use of canisters of teargas to disperse angry mob, bent on lynching the suspects.
The suspects, Ibrahim Marafa, Shehu Adamu, Yusuf Adamu, Aliyu Dalhatu, Abdulmalik Tanko, Usman Sabo and Hazif Sabo Abubakar, were arraigned by the state Shariah Commission, for allegedly engaging in homosexual activities in the state, an act said to be contrary to the Islamic laws operating in the state.
Trouble started at about 1.44 p.m when the accused were being led to the vehicle that brought them to the court, so as to be conveyed back to prisons, as the angry mob started hurling stones at them, calling them names in the process.
Sensing danger, armed prisons officials who accompanied the suspects to court had to resort to the use of gun and teargas to disperse the mob.
In the ensuing pandemonium, the vehicle conveying the suspects drove away on top speed, heading back to the prison, while everyone on the premises, including the Shariah judge and journalists covering the event, scampered for safety.
A few people were, however, injured in the melee.
The armed prison wardens had to shoot into the air, so as to disperse the crowd.
Earlier, during the proceeding in the court, counsel for the Shariah commission, Mr Danlami Ayuba, had told the court that one of the accused persons, Marafa, was the principal of Government Secondary School, Mainamaji.
Counsel for the accused, Abdul Musa, told the court that he was not ready for the proceeding and pleaded that his clients be granted bail, for them to study the charges, a move that was objected by Ayuba.
The sitting judge, El-Yaqub Aliyu, refused to grant the accused persons bail and adjourned the matter till January 27.
In a related development, the commission, also on Wednesday, arraigned six other suspects before the court for homosexuality.
When their case was mentioned, the judge, Aliyu, cautioned the commission to make sure that it was sure of its evidence before the case commenced.
Quoting copiously from the Hadith, the judge declared that the accused remained innocent until proper evidence was established that he had committed the offence again.
The commission presented two witnesses against two of the suspects, but none of them was able to say that he saw the accused committing the act.
The case was adjourned till January 27.
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