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A lot of Nigerians may soon migrate to Europe as there are indications the EU may sanction granting of asylum to African homos*xuals who can’t openly declare their $-exuality due to laws against same-s*x relationships in the continent, with many saying, even straight people could go as far as changing their sxu_ality or ‘faking’ it in order to be assured of asylum in Europe.

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The European Union’s highest court has ruled that the fear of imprisonment for homos*xuality in African countries is grounds for asylum in the EU.

The ruling follows a request for advice from The Netherlands about three gay refugees seeking asylum from Uganda, Sierra Leone and Senegal.
According to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) the existence of laws that could lead to the imprisonment of homos*xuals, “may constitute an act of persecution per se” if they are routinely enforced.

The Luxembourg-based court stated that it was unreasonable to expect gay people to hide their s*xuality in their home countries in order to avoid persecution. Concealing their se*uality would amount to renouncing a “characteristic fundamental to a person’s identity,” the court said.

In the case of the three men seeking asylum in The Netherlands the application was initially denied on the grounds that the men could “exercise restraint” to avoid persecution. The Dutch Council of State, an advisory body to the government, subsequently took the case to the ECJ for a ruling.

Despite the ruling it is up to the authorities in sovereign countries to decide “whether, in the applicant’s country of origin, the term of imprisonment…is applied in practice”.

The ECJ says laws specifically targeting homosexuals do make them a separate group, however, a ban on homosexual acts alone is not grounds to grant asylum.

International law says that a social group with a ‘well-founded’ fear of persecution can claim asylum status if the persecution amounts to a severe violation of human rights.

Homos*xual acts are considered unlawful in most African countries and Amnesty International has said homos*xuality is “increasingly criminalised across Africa,” with 36 nations there having laws against same-s*x conduct.

Nations that consider homosexual acts illegal include Nigeria, Kenya, Botswana and Uganda.

In Nigeria, a convicted homosexual may spend up to 14 years in prison.

Amnesty has also said that homophobic attacks have reached dangerous levels in sub-Saharan Africa and that this relates to the “toxic message” that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are criminals. A number of the continent’s leaders have said homosexuality is un-African.

In 2010 the Supreme Court in the UK ruled that two gay men from Iran and Cameroon have the right to asylum in the UK, after they were initially told by the Home Office that they could safely return home if they were “discreet” about their s*xual orientation.
[Independent]

An air conditioner repairer working with a hotel in Lagos, Nigeria has been arraigned at an Ikeja Magistrate Court, charged with alleged theft.
The repairer, Paul Muyiwa Ojikutu, a resident of No. 10 Aguragberigbe, Ikorodu is charged with stealing N500 only.

The prosecutor, Inspector Edet Okoi, told the court that Ojikutu was a repairer Ashosh Hotel located at 3, Babatola Close beside Obafemi Awolowo Way, Ikeja, Lagos.

Okoi said the accused stole the said sum from the hotel.

Prosecutor told the magistrate, Mrs. Dan Oni, that the incident took place on 29 October this year at the hotel in Ikeja.

The accused pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge.

Dan Oni granted the accused bail in the sum of N20,000 with one surety, while she adjourned the case till 5 December, 2013 for further hearing.

PM NEWS

The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Friday fired two Senators and eight House of Representatives members from Katsina state, who got their seats after their initial occupants were sacked by the Independent National Electoral Commission December 2011.

The court ordered that those sacked by INEC be reinstated.

They are Senators Abdu Umar Yandoma and Ahmad Sani Stores, House of Reps members, Murtala Isa, Muntari Dandutse, Musa Salisu, Aminu Ashiru and Umar Adamu Katsayal, Muhammad Tukur, Tasi’u Doguro, and Abdu Dankama.

Those occupying the seats presently, who are to vacate are Senators Abubakar Yar’adua and Hadi Sirika, House of Reps members Ahmed Babba Kaita, Salisu Salisco, Umar Abubakar, Salisu Daura, Isa Doro, Sani Mashi, Abbas Machika and Mansur Funtua.

The first set of lawmakers were sacked in December 2011 by the electoral body which said they were not the due candidates for the elections on the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, CPC.

That decision was overturned in January 2013 by a High Court in Abuja, which ordered that the initial winners be reinstated. But that ruling was not effected as the second set of lawmakers appealed against the ruling.

In its ruling on Friday, the Court of Appeal affirmed the judgement of the Federal High Court, Abuja which voided the withdrawal of Certificate of Returns of the first 10 Katsina lawmakers.

The court also said the leadership of the National Assembly acted in error by accepting to swear-in the second set of lawmakers to replace the old ones after INEC issued to them Certificate of Returns.

Justice Jimmy Bada, who led four other judges to hear the appeal said that the High Court was right to have dismissed the objection raised by the lawmakers currently in the National Assembly.

“There is no court of competent jurisdiction that declared the appellant as winner in the election,” the judge said.

“The respondents (those whose certificate of returns were withdrawn) were duly sworn-in and I am of the view that the court below has the powers to entertain the case of the respondent.

“The certificate of returns issued to the appellants is a nullity. The court below was right in dismissing the objection of the appellants. INEC issued the certificate of returns without order from any court or tribunal”.

The lawyer representing the lawmakers who have been ordered to vacate their seats, John Baiyeeshea, said the appeal, which raised four issues for the court’s determination, was not a pre-election matter and as such the federal high court had no jurisdiction to hear and make a pronouncement on it.

He argued that the issuance of Certificates of Return and alleged withdrawal of the certificate are post-election matters, and begged the court to annul the judgement of the high court.

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