Police in Nigeria say they have arrested about 200 gay men at an event in southern Delta state.

Sixty-seven of them will now be charged after investigations.

However, most of the men who were paraded in front of journalists on Tuesday said they were not homosexuals but fashion designers, photographers and models who had been invited to an event.

One of the men said they had been locked up for days without water and access to their phones.

Police spokesman DSP Bright Edafe said homosexuality would “not be allowed in Nigeria, it will never be tolerated”.

“This act is evil and we cannot copy the Western world,” he said.

The men were arrested around 02:00 local time on Monday after officers stopped a man dressed as a woman late on Sunday evening.

Police say the man initially told them he was an actor but later said he belonged to a gay society and he was having an event at a hotel.

Two men were allegedly found dressed as bride and groom at the venue and the police said they had found a video recording of a wedding.

But both men denied the accusations, saying they were neither crossdressers nor gay.

One said he was a fashion designer and that the clothes the police claimed was a “groom’s outfit” was a design he was modelling at the event.

The other man, who was dressed in a bride’s outfit, said he had been invited to model at the event and denied the police accusations.