"If you read the newspapers, you already know that the Church was in the vanguard of support for the bill to become law. Describing it as portending disastrous consequences for mankind because it endangers the family as God conceived it, the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) submitted that 'same sex marriage, apart from being ungodly, it is unscriptural, unnatural, unprofitable, unhealthy, un-cultural, un-African and un-Nigerian...'"
Now, the gay rights debate is raging, as we said it would. And I think it’s time for everyone to stand up and be counted on this subject. That is why I am going to be deliberately copious in mentioning the dramatis personae on both sides of the struggle. I find this necessary because, like I said in a different context, the new divide at this juncture of human history is between those who seek after righteousness and those who don’t; between those who refuse to worship the god of this world masquerading as angel of freedom, civil rights and political correctness and those who prostrate at his altar. Forgive me therefore, dear reader, if you find the prose a bit more tedious than usual.
First, a bit of retrospection. The gay right issue came to the fore in Nigeria in 2006 when a certain group which styled itself as Changing Attitude in Nigeria (CAN) went public with its presence within the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion). As I have said here many times, it was a first shot in what I characterized as the battle for the soul of the church and eventually the nation. I did say that Nigeria had become a very important target of the international gay movement, because of the firm stand of the Church of Nigeria’s firm stand against gay ascendancy within the Anglican Communion worldwide. That stand has led into a full-blown crisis within that wing of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. I had posited then that the thinking was that if the home turf of the general of the resistance in the person of Most Rev Peter Akinola, the resistance would be weakened.
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, then President of the Federal Republic, probably caught their drift and sent an executive bill to the National Assembly to prohibit same-sex marriage in this country. The bill didn’t go too far, on the face of it, because the legislative arm was already winding down. But, as I pointed out at the time, the tardiness in this respect might have been “the result of subtle, underground resistance from the opposing camp, to which foreign funding is always available…” Anyway the bill died with the 2003-7 National Assembly.
That was the situation until ((HB. 150) House Bill 150 surfaced last year. Titled, A BILL FOR AN ACT TO PROHIBIT MARRIAGE BETWEEN PERSONS OF SAME GENDER, SOLEMNIZATION OF SAME AND FOR OTHER MATTERS RELATED THEREWITH, it was sponsored by 49 Honourable Members of the Federal House of Representatives. Among them, Chukwudi Mayor Eze, C. I. D. Mmaduabum, John Owan Enoh, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, Mohammed Darangi Kwakwara, Abolagba J. A., Ernest Ibejiako, Juliet Akano, Chuma Nzeribe, Peace Nnaji, Samson Osagie, Mohammed Sani Abdu, Chile Igbawua, Kolawole Yusuf, Arole Fancy, Aribisala Adewale and Paul Eze.
Others on the list of sponsors are: Sylvester Ogbaga, Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi, Pat Asadu, Kalu Uduma, Umeoji Chukwuka, Bassey Eko Ewa, Nnanna Uzor Kalu, Mathew Omegara, Emeka Ihedioha, . Leo. O. Ogor, Stanley Ohajuruka, Ibrahim Ghalid Mustapha, Hembe Herman, Rufus Omeire, K. G. B. Oguakwa, Chuka Ama_Nwauwa, Solomon Ahwinahwi, Hassan A. Haruna, J. J. Idachaba, Darlington Okereke, H. S. Dickson, Anies Ikpong King, Emman H. Jime, Abass Braimah, Friday Itulah, Mohammed Maifats, Eziuche Ubani, L U. Chima, Chukwuka Onyema, Uche Ekwunife, Henry Shawulu, and Paulica P. Igwe.
As is always the case, the human rights establishment swung into action, and on January 26, 2009, Amnesty International issued a statement on behalf of itself, Human Rights Watch, the Nigerian Bar Association Human Rights Institute and other so-called Nigerian human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs) expressing deep concern about the bill.
The 23 other bodies include from Nigeria): Centre for Democracy & Development, (CDD); Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD); Centre for Law Enforcement Education (CLEEN Foundation);;Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Nigeria; Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Nigeria; Girls' Power Initiative (GPI); House of Rainbow Metropolitan (HRMCC) and Human Rights Law Service (HURILAWS).
Other Nigerian groups on the list are: Human Rights Monitor (HRM); International Centre for Reproductive Health and Sexual Rights (INCRESE); Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP); Legal Resources Consortium (LRC); Nigerian Humanist Movement; Partnership for Justice (PJ); Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA); Socio-Economic Rights & Accountability Project (SERAP); The Independent Project for Equal Rights; Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC); and Youths 2gether Network.
Changing Attitude Nigeria, United Kingdom; International Resource Network for Africa; and Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC), both United States based complete the list.
And what did this disparate “cloud of witnesses” have against the bill? Hear them: “…The Bill …is in contravention of the Nigerian Constitution and inconsistent with Nigeria's obligations under international and regional human rights treaties which the country has ratified…Provisions in the Bill violate sections 37, 38, 40 and 42 of Nigeria's Constitution and the analogous provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (i.e. articles 2, 3, 11, and 28) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (i.e. articles 2, 18, 19, 21, 22, and 26)…The Bill singles out one group of people to be deprived of rights that all people enjoy as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution and international human rights treaties to which Nigeria is a state party. In particular, the Bill violates the right to freedom from discrimination as recognized in section 42, 1, of the 1999 Constitution:…The Nigerian government has an obligation to promote and protect the human rights of its population without distinction of any kind, including sexual orientation or gender identity. As a member of the UN Human Rights Council, Nigeria is required to uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights of all people regardless of their sexual orientation. We therefore urge the National Assembly not to pass this Bill.”
This was the background against which the House Joint Committee on Human Rights, Women Affairs and Justice Committee held a public hearing on the bill on March 11. The melodrama that attained the hearing was well reported in the media, with a group that calls itself the Queer Alliance of Nigeria taking centre stage in disingenuous defence of the right to live outside societal norm and more importantly outside the will of God. They were joined by, such other groups as, Sexual Minorities Against Aids in Nigeria (SMAAN) and BAOBAB for Women's Human Rights.
If you read the newspapers, you already know that the Church was in the vanguard of support for the bill to become law. Describing it as portending disastrous consequences for mankind because it endangers the family as God conceived it, the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) submitted that “same sex marriage, apart from being ungodly, it is unscriptural, unnatural, unprofitable, unhealthy, un-cultural, un-African and un-Nigerian. It is a perversion, a deviation and an aberration that is capable of engendering moral and social holocaust in this country. Outlawing it is to ensure the continued existence of this nation." Of course there were copious references to the Bible backing up this position.
Interestingly, The Guardian newspaper jumped into the fray during the week with an incisive and forthright editorial opinion which its natural allies in the human rights community must have been very uncomfortable with. Unfortunately it crash-landed on the side of what I have termed “the price of fish” syndrome that has held a sizeable percentage of the Nigerian elite captive. (TO BE CONCLUDED).
IS ANYBODY LISTENING?
In a recent piece titled, Do the Old Rules of Money Work? Bisi Ojediran wrote as follows: “In many countries everything possible has been done to stop the economic downturn, but no luck. The old rules of money don’t seem to work anymore. In the US, Keith Fitz-Gerald, an investment expert writes: ‘Everything these so-called experts predicted was going to happen hasn’t happened. And what’s happening can’t be explained by their ‘tried and true’ theories.’
“The Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Chukwuma Soludo may have seen some traces of that. He calls it a paradox. Hear him: ‘The paradox that we face currently is that excess liquidity co-exists with rising interest rates, which in real terms and in relation to the deposit rate, seem to be high. On the one hand, we need to tighten liquidity to address inflation and exchange rate concerns, while on the other hand, we would need to address high interest rate by relaxing monetary conditions. Another paradox is that the observed excess liquidity has not translated to commensurate credit creation; in fact, credit growth appears to have slowed down’ ”.
That reads to me like the word of God in Isaiah 29:14 which in the Message paraphrase reads: “I'm going to step in and shock them awake, astonish them, stand them on their ears. The wise ones who had it all figured out will be exposed as fools. The smart people who thought they knew everything will turn out to know nothing." Is anybody listening?
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