FASHOLA’S INTERFACE WITH THE CHURCH (2)

The question can be asked: are the churches ready, willing and able to be partners-in-governance? The answer, unfortunately, is not a categorical ‘yes’. In spite of the great potential that the church has to influence social, economic and political behaviour of its members, very little is being done in this respect. These issues don’t get attention from the pulpit. Most of the small groups are so focussed on their areas of “specialty” that they also end up becoming replicas of the church, unable to talk about day-to-day issues. The Churches have to rise to the Fashola Challenge!

I was saying that Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola’s establishment of a well-staffed, functional department for religious liaison in his office is noteworthy. I suggested that it is a reflection of the governor’s recognition of the place of the spiritual in the affairs of man. I noted that “the calibre of staffing, the depth of the speeches they present on behalf of their principal…demonstrate that he sees this as an important factor in his on-going success”

Now, I do not claim to know how spiritual he is himself, and it’s probably not the place of this column, Christian in orientation as it is, but the visibility of the religious affairs department seems to say something about the state of the man’s heart and his understanding of the potential contribution of religious and faith-based organisations to the development of the state under his watch. The latter is the focus of this piece.

Fashola, for instance, was recently represented at the 47th Synod of the Obun-Eko Circuit of Methodist Church Nigeria’s Diocese of Lagos, by Rev’d Mrs Yewande Akitoye-Braimoh, Special Adviser, Christian Religious Matters. Now, notice, this wasn’t a synod of the Lagos Diocese as a whole, but a circuit of it. It was therefore possible to either decline or send a lower-level official. But he honoured it. I do not discount the interplay of such forces as “who knows whom” etc, but I perceive a deliberate decision to interface with the Church, on what ordinarily might have been seen as by a less perceptive leader as no business of the their’s.

A Sunday Independent report of the event lends credence to this. Speaking on behalf of the governor, Akitoye-Braimah was quoted as describing the synod theme, “Church in a Troubled World” as “instructive and appropriate, especially taking into consideration our present need as a people for spiritual, social and moral rejuvenation in the service of our fatherland.”

According to the report written by Aramide Oikelome, the governor seized the opportunity to call on religious leaders to work towards sustaining the on-going interface between church and state in order to impact lives positively and enhance development of the state.

The report quoted him as saying: “The role of the Church in contributing to societal harmony is in greater need now than before because of the social dislocation likely to arise from the global economic meltdown. Like most institutions and organisations, which are taking measures on the crisis, the Church will be expected to rise to the occasion and provide leadership to its numerous flocks.”

As I stated last week, Governor Fashola’s unabashed liaison with religious bodies is indeed courageous because it runs against the grain of the liberalist tendencies of most of our opinion leaders and moulders. I have referred to the recent statement credited to our very dear Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka that religion is irrelevant in the public life of our nation.

But this isn’t just about courage, it’s about wisdom. Read the above statement again. The world economy is going through recession, the kind that a country like Britain has not experienced since the Second World War. Every one who knows anything about the way the world works knows that people will experience all kinds of pressures. The young man who loses his job will be tempted to steal. The pretty damsel, whose parents cannot provide for, will be tempted to use what she has (her body) to get what she needs. You can picture the variety of pseudo-creativity and pragmatism that people will seek to bring into the good old task of meeting their daily needs. There is no better institution than the Church to step in and rein in the clear and present danger to the social fabric that the economic crisis poses.

The governor was further quoted: “We regard our religious leaders as partners in governance because they are saddled with the responsibility of admonishing the congregation to be law-abiding and shun criminal tendencies that pose a threat to the security of the state. The church can also act as partners to the government in preaching against lawlessness, corruption, disorderliness and disobedience to constituted authority and leaders.”

This is hardly debatable, also. On the roads, in the market place, in our offices, virtually everywhere, lawlessness and disorderliness reign supreme. Disobedience to constituted authority is the norm. A vast majority of the people who manifest these anti-social traits can be found in various worship places including churches. Doesn’t it therefore make sense for government to carry the message to where the people are? That is the wisdom of the Fashola approach, which is a far cry from the cynical reach-out at the approach of elections that we used to see.

The question can be asked: are the churches ready, willing and able to be partners-in-governance? The answer, unfortunately, is not a categorical ‘yes’. In spite of the great potential that the church has to influence social, economic and political behaviour of its members, very little is being done in this respect. These issues don’t get attention from the pulpit. Most of the small groups are so focussed on their areas of “specialty” that they also end up becoming replicas of the church, unable to talk about day-to-day issues. The Churches have to rise to the Fashola Challenge! We have to deliberately begin to exhort and admonish our members about these issues.

The beauty of it is that the people are willing, if the leaders are ready. That is to say, it is more up to the pulpit than to the pew, as I believe this little story illustrates. Recently I took a motorbike (okada) from Ogba to Adeniyi Jones Street in Ikeja both in Lagos, Nigeria. The driver, a young well-turned out guy, handed me a crash helmet. I dutifully wore it on my handkerchief covered head. He drove off, his own helmet dangling from where he hung it between the bike's speedometer and the hand throttle, and merrily launched into singing. Three gospel choruses later, I interrupted him.

From your songs, I sense you are a Christian, I began.

Yes sir, he replied obviously deferring to my age. “Do you know that the Bible teaches us to obey to the laws of the land?”

Yes sir, he responded.

Do you know that ‘okada' operators and passengers are by law bound to wear crash helmets?

Yes, and I have mine here, he said patting the helmet where it was. And, I put it on anytime I'm nearing police or Road Safety (Commission) check-points, he answered.

I pointed out to him that what the Bible says is to obey constituted authority, not deceive them. And that what he was doing was deception not obedience. I quoted to him the Biblical passage in Colossians 3:22-23 which reads: “Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.”

What followed was very instructive. Without another word, he parked the bike, took his helmet, put it on, strapped it securely at the chin and drove off.

God bless you, I prayed for him and he replied with an ‘Amen’.

As I disembarked at my destination, he thanked me warmly and assured me, he would stay obedient.

I do not for one moment assume that I shall get the same results every time I chanced across a law-breaking biker, but I do intend to continue to try. Truth is that there are far too many people out there whose Christianity does not reflect in the quality of citizenship. I am fully persuaded that the Church can help raise the level of obedience to constituted authority in our nation, and work to mitigate the threat to our socio-economic well-being that the global financial crisis constitutes.

In passing, I understand that representatives of church were at a meeting with officials of Fashola’s government where the subject of noise pollution was discussed recently. I am told that maximum noise levels were agreed upon as - 55 decibel during the day and 45 decibel at night; while early morning services should not start earlier than 6am nor daytime services continue beyond 9pm. Perhaps this will need fine-tuning, but it is one of the advantages of the interface between Church and State that we’ve been talking about, particularly if consultation is wide enough. Kudos, Governor BRF. (Concluded).

PIX: Archbishop John Onaiyekan, President, Christian Association of Nigeria

FASHOLA’S INTERFACE WITH THE CHURCH

It is against this background that I find the establishment in a Department of Religious Matters in the Governor’s Office particularly instructive. And from my observation, the office is not just political cosmetics. It reflects Governor Fashola’s recognition of the place of the spiritual in the affairs of man. The calibre of staffing, the depth of the speeches they present on behalf of their principal, and the deliberate decision to stay connected; all demonstrate that he sees this as an important factor in his on-going succes

s.

Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola is, by common consent, the most celebrated state chief executive in our nation today. His approval rating, were some of our pollsters to conduct one, would most certainly be near the maximum.

That is significant because, historically, Lagos has been more blessed than virtually any other state of the Federal Republic with more than its fair share of effective governors, military and civilian.

Mobolaji Johnson, the very first governor, took office as an Army Major, a rank lower than most of his colleagues in the military administration of Yakubu Gowon, which created the state along with eleven others from the erstwhile four regions. He had to create the take-off structures from scratch. And he not only did it so well that, as the cliché goes, he left his footprints on the sands of time, he was also one of, if I remember correctly, only two governors who were not found guilty of official corruption when the regime was probed.

Several military governors later, many of them above average, Lateef Kayode Jakande, nicknamed the action governor came on the scene, the very first civilian to rule the state. The zeal with which he carried out his assignment was unparalleled. Right from the first whistle on October 1, 1979 to the early hours of December 31, 1984 when the army caught him right at his desk, at the onset of yet another military interregnum, he served his people without relent. He trebled the number of schools at primary and secondary levels within months of coming into office in order to implement the "free education at all levels" policy of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) to which he belonged. Today, thousands of people still live in Jakande Estates, not so named by him, which dot the state - veritable reminders of a leader’s fulfilled promises.

There was Muhammed Buba Marwa, a colonel who served during the infamous days of maximum ruler, Sani Abacha, yet managed to win the heart of Lagosians. He is fondly remembered for fixing Lagos roads, which his immediate predecessor had said was impossible due to unavailability of bitumen! He also has the credit for introducing tricycles, named Keke Marwa after him, into the city’s transportation system. He can also be credited with raising the standards of government estates further through the Marwa (now MKO) Gardens, the upmarket housing estate he built in Ikeja.

And of course there was Bola Ahmed Tinubu, immediate past governor in whose administration Fashola served as chief of staff. Tinubu was not afraid to innovate. He moved swiftly to institutionalise the oft-talked about public-private partnership mode of public governance. When traffic control situation graduated from a crisis to a nightmare, he established the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA). When his best effort at cleaning the environment seemed to be failing due to old-habits-die-hard indiscipline, he caused the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) Brigade to rein it in. To superintend an integrated transportation system for the fast emerging megacity of Lagos, he and his team put together the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA). He was visionary and courageous. It is incontrovertible that the Tinubu Administration laid the foundation for today’s many successes.

But not even that fact can detract from the leadership credentials of the current helmsman. In less than two years, he and his team have done so much in virtually every area of governance that not even Lagos has ever had it so good. The launch and expansion of the Bus Rapid Transport scheme, the greening of many parts of the metropolis, rehabilitation and expansion of roads, return of sanity to the various bus terminals, resulting in the reduction of travelling time within the state by as much as half in some cases, all add up to less stressful living for the citizens. So many credible Nigerians are on record as acknowledging Governor Fashola’s achievements that very little can be added to it here.

One of the most recent was Monsignor Gabriel Osu, spokesperson for the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos. Asked to comment on the said intention of President Umar Yar’Adua to seek a second term in office, he retorted, “second term” to do what; to continue sleeping?” He then added: “without being sycophantic, if Fashola wants to continue for life, the people of Lagos would give it to him …everybody can see what he has done; that he has surrounded himself with energetic people working hard to serve the people…”

It has been suggested that one of the secrets of his success is something already being touted as the “Lagos Model” of socio-political leadership. By this model, it is said that Fashola, a largely apolitical technocratic type, leaves politics to Tinubu, the consummate politician, while he confronts the nitty-gritty of governance. The raison d’etre of this “model” is that politics and governance are contending factors and the ability to optimally handle the twain hardly ever meet, in one and the same person.

The truth or otherwise of this postulate will be revealed in the coming months, as we approach the next general elections in 2011. But irrespective of the durability and the wider applicability of this so called model, it is certain that Lagos is a miracle happening right before our eyes.”

For this writer, every time I behold yet another facet of the Lagos Miracle, this popular verse of scripture pops up in my spirit: “This is the LORD'S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.”(Psalm 118: 23). The Message translation captures my feeling and those of many people I have discussed with better. It reads: “This is GOD's work. We rub our eyes--we can hardly believe it!”

You see, the truth is every good and every perfect gift comes from God. All the great and mighty things being done are indeed God’s doing and no matter what theory we may develop around it, the Bible, which is our compass in this column has said that “… it is God which works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). Let’s see how The Message paraphrases it in contemporary language: “That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure”. This is the truth that President Olusegun Obasanjo failed to see when he was pursuing the so-called third-term agenda. He was taking credit for the work God was doing through him. He ended up in disgrace.

It is against this background that I find the establishment in a Department of Religious Matters in the Governor’s Office particularly instructive. And from my observation, the office is not just political cosmetics. It reflects Governor Fashola’s recognition of the place of the spiritual in the affairs of man. The calibre of staffing, the depth of the speeches they present on behalf of their principal, and the deliberate decision to stay connected; all demonstrate that he sees this as an important factor in his on-going success. At a time when an intellectual giant like Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka is decrying religion as irrelevant in the public space; when political correctness dictates that political office holders should distance themselves from the spiritual lest they be seen as anti-intellectualism, this is commendable courage. (To be concluded).

PIX: Mr Babatunde Fashola, SAN, Governor, Lagos State

WHO IS WHO AGAINST HOUSE BILL 150?

Interestingly, some of these role models who have, in my opinion, discharged themselves creditably for the public good, are being linked to pro-same-sex marriage approval, through some organisations they are connected with. A check on the antecedents of the NGOs said to be standing with Amnesty against HB 150 would probably lead you to join me in wondering if there hasn’t been a mistake somewhere.

I feel constrained to return the vexed subject of gay rights and the Nigerian nation. A casual perusal of the list of signatories to Amnesty International's statement of January 26, left me wondering if certain Nigerians should not be making categorical statements about there position on HB 150, and homosexuality in general. HB 150, by the way, is House Bill 150 titled, A Bill for an Act to Prohibit Marriage between Persons of Same Gender, Solemnization of Same and for other Matters related therewith, currently before the House of Representatives.

Of course, in a free country like ours, the right to support or refuse to support any bill before the National Assembly is inalienable. So also is the right to be indifferent. But it would be unfortunate, wouldn’t it, were one to be associated with a position on any issue merely by default, particularly on an issue that’s capable of defining the very future of mankind.

No matter how exaggerated it may seem to the liberal sensibilities of many of us, the truth is, as marriage goes, so goes the culture and the future of the human race. At its most basic is the rhetorical question the Guardian newspaper raised in its editorial on the subject: “Homosexuals are claiming that men can marry themselves. If everyone followed their example, would they have even been born?”
One is therefore fully persuaded that this is an issue about which everyone who has any kind of claim to leadership in Nigeria should take a stand, clearly and unambiguously. This is because certain individuals and institutions have powerful opinion moulding capabilities and are therefore able to influence society for good or for ill.

Interestingly, some of these role models who have, in my opinion, discharged themselves creditably for the public good, are being linked to pro-same-sex marriage approval, through some organisations they are connected with. A check on the antecedents of the NGOs said to be standing with Amnesty against HB 150 would probably lead you to join me in wondering if there hasn’t been a mistake somewhere.

The Nigerian Bar Association, for instance, was listed through its Human Rights Institute. Established “to promote and protect the rule of law, independence of the legal profession effectively and efficiently and to advance human rights enforcement in Nigeria,” NBA–HRI’s membership is “open to all legal practitioners and law firms in Nigeria interested in pursuing the objects of the institute…” Although this membership clause suggests that a legal practitioner can belong to the NBA without being a member of the institute, the question that arises is, does the institute speak for the NBA? I would be surprised if there are many right-thinking members of the public who would hold otherwise. Would it therefore not be right to conclude that Nigerian lawyers, a preponderance of whom would claim to subscribe to Christianity or Islam, support the Amnesty International statement that is clearly saying that homosexuality is a human right? I think not. Yet if the NBA or, at least, Association of Christian Lawyers has dissociated itself from this position, I am unaware of it!

Also on the list is an NGO known as The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) which was "established in October 1997 in response to the need for an independent space for critical reflection and development of universally relevant and culturally sensitive responses to the challenges posed by the democracy and development agenda in the West African sub-region, CDD has become a major reference point for informed analysis and practical strategies on West African socio-political dynamics.”
Apart from the fact that support for same-sex marriage, even indirectly, would seem to run counter to the goal of seeking universally relevant and culturally sensitive responses to the democratic and development challenges (emphasis added), it would be interesting to hear the position of such Nigerian associates of CDD as Matthew Hassan Kukah and Obiageli Ezekwesili, to mention just two.

Kukah, is a Catholic Reverend Father and former Secretary-General of the Catholic Secretariat in Nigeria who served on Nigeria’s Presidential Truth and Reconciliation Commission into Past Human Rights Violations. He is a respected public commentator, who currently runs a diocese of the Catholic Church in Kaduna. Northern Nigeria.
Ezekwesili is a Chartered Accountant who as President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Senior Special Assistant on Budget Matters made such great impact that her elevation to the cabinet and subsequent appointment as a vice-President at the World Bank was seen as richly deserved. She’s a committed Christian whose husband is a pastor.

Also prominent among the NGOs listed as signatories to the Amnesty International statement are HURILAWS; Socio-Economic Rights & Accountability Project SERAP; The International Centre for Reproductive Health and Sexual Rights (INCRESE); Centre for Law Enforcement Education (CLEEN Foundation); and Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO).

HURILAWS was founded by none other than Olisa Agbakoba, a human rights activist, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association. It started in 1997 as “an independent, non-profit service, dedicated to providing public interest and human rights law services to advance the legal protection of human rights and has “working relations with the Episcopal Commission for Justice, Development & Peace Commission of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria…”.
Now, Agbakoba’s catholic credentials are incontrovertible and that might explain HURILAW’s working relationship with a commission of the Church. The position of the Catholic Church of Nigeria on homosexuality is too well-known to require a rehash here. So, how do you explain HURILAW’s place on Amnesty International’s list of signatories?

SERAP was established in 2004 to promote transparency and accountability in the public and private sectors through human rights. Its National Advisory Board members are: Mr. Femi Falana, President West African Bar Association, Mr.Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), Professor Oluwole Smith, Dean Faculty of Law Lagos State University, and Mrs.Ayo Atsenuwa, Professor of Law University of Lagos. How opposition to HB 150 promotes “transparency and accountability in the public and private sectors through human rights” is beyond me and makes me wonder whether these influential Nigerians are privy to their NGO’s signature on Amnesty’s statement.

INCRESE touts itself as “the leading Nigerian NGO working for a favourable environment and expanding access to sexual health and rights information and services and has as its vision, “to be the preferred leading sexual Health and right NGO.” With its so-called values as “Autonomy, Diversity, Integrity and Choice,” it is not inconceivable that “choice” might include abortion rights and perhaps a choice to marry within your gender. But does Dr Kayode Fayemi, who is likely to be the next Governor of Ekiti State, endorse this – being one of the Nigerians on INCRESE’s Board of Trustees?

Where do some of the well-known members of the Board of Trustees of CLEEN Foundation, also a signatory, stand of this issue? They include Mrs. Ayo Obe, human rights lawyer and former president of the Civil Liberties Organization; Josephine Effah Chukwuma, who pioneered the establishment of shelter for female victims of violence in Nigeria, and is currently the executive director of Project Alert on Violence Against Women and; Frank Odita, a retired Police Commissioner and former public relations chief of the Nigeria Police Force, who currently presents an television magazine programme Security Watch. There is also Innocent Chukwuma who is Secretary of the foundation. Another icon of human rights struggle in Nigeria who might consider speaking up is Festus Okoye whose NGO, Human Rights Monitor, is on the list.

In closing, I commend to all our leaders and opinion makers the words of Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, who in a reaction to an April 3 Iowa Supreme Court decision imposing "same-sex marriage as a constitutional right,” said in part:

"Homosexual 'marriage' is wrong because homosexual behaviour itself is wrong and destructive -- as proved by its role in the early deaths of countless 'gay' men. We must shake loose of the secularists' and libertarians' amoral nonchalance regarding 'same-sex marriage' by asking questions like this: how exactly would two men consummate their 'gay marriage'? Answer: by engaging in what one Founding Father, Noah Webster, writing in saner times, rightly defined as a "crime against nature.… Our Creator is pure, perfect and holy, and homosexual behaviour is diametrically opposed to His will for people's lives and His purpose for sex within the healthy boundaries of marriage, for the procreation of children. This same God graciously provides a way out of this sinful lifestyle through His son Jesus Christ, a path many former homosexuals have taken -- including those now living in real (man- woman) marriages…”
Pixes:REV FR MATTHEW HASSAN KUKAH and MR OLISA AGBAKOBA, SAN...Time to speak up

AS THE GREAT GAY DEBATE HOTS UP (2)

The second group, in my opinion, is the Guardian’s third group populated by those, in the Guardian’s words, see homosexuality as “a biological condition, which is as perfectly normal as heterosexual orientation”. They are the people who created the phantom 'group one' of the Guardian’s analysis, otherwise known as the homophobes, that is, those who want homosexuals eliminated, violently, if necessary! The gay lobby has perfected this blackmail and used it successfully in a number of places. It must not be allowed to succeed here. Prescription of prison terms for anti-social behaviours are intended to deter and correct and do not necessarily result from hatred.

As every one interested in the subject would have noticed, the gay ‘rights’ debate has tended to elicit more heat than light. That has been the situation almost everywhere and Nigeria wasn’t going to be an exception. That is why interventions such as that of the Guardian newspaper through its March 23, 2009 editorial comment titled; “Homosexuality and the Lawmakers” must be seen as a welcome development.

It is welcome because, it did attempt to throw some light into the debate with its review of the basic arguments for and against the anti-same-sex marriage bill being considered by the National Assembly. The newspaper also identified three broad tendencies on the subject among Nigerians. In one group are “many Nigerian Christians and Moslems” who “the mere mention of homosexuality is guaranteed to drive up the wall in revulsion”. A second group consists of “others, somewhat tolerant who are inclined to look at the phenomenon as a form of benign affliction from which the victims can be rescued” who therefore believe that “homosexuals and lesbians should be managed until they return to the path of rectitude.” The third group is peopled by “others” for whom “homosexuality is not a stigma but a biological condition, which is as perfectly normal as heterosexual orientation”.

This analysis is only partly correct. In reality there are only two groups. From years of engaging with the subject, one has come to realise that the Christian community’s revulsion for homosexuality stems from the position identified by the Guardian and attributed to a certain second group. Namely, that homosexuality is an “affliction from which the victims can be rescued.” In other words, the first and second groups identified by the Guardian actually belong together hating the sin of homosexuality, but loving the sinner and willing to help nurture the sinner back to the path of “rectitude”.

The second group, in my opinion, is the Guardian’s third group populated by those, in the Guardian’s words, see homosexuality as “a biological condition, which is as perfectly normal as heterosexual orientation”. They are the people who created the phantom 'group one' of the Guardian’s analysis, otherwise known as the homophobes, that is, those who want homosexuals eliminated, violently, if necessary! The gay lobby has perfected this blackmail and used it successfully in a number of places. It must not be allowed to succeed here. Prescription of prison terms for anti-social behaviours are intended to deter and correct and do not necessarily result from hatred.

The editorial was however spot on when it wrote: “The problem with Nigerians is that we are all too eager to copy the latest fads from the western world. Not every product from the West is good and the well-heeled homosexual lobby is one such example. We must come to look at the issue of same sex relationships from the prism of our culture and religion. For the African, the idea that a man can be married to a man or a woman to a woman is anathema. The culture of marriage is predicated on the union between a man and a woman and all our traditional practices and normative values regarding marriage are based on the assumption that the other member is of the opposite sex.”

It was also correct to say that “African parents prepare their children from birth through adolescence for marriage to the opposite sex. Too many things will be upset were it possible to upturn age-old customs and practices…Africans have a right to say 'no' to a movement whose ultimate outcome will be the destruction of the family. Homosexuals are claiming that men can marry themselves. If everyone followed their example, would they have even been born? Looking at the debate, we conclude that in the short run both parties cannot be reconciled without grave injuries being done to either of them. ”

One cannot also fault the newspaper’s take on the human rights angle to the debate: “Those who argue that opposition to homosexuality amounts to a violation of universal human rights, may well need to realise that the dislike of homosexuality is not inconsistent with the observance of human rights. Nigerian homosexuals are not pilloried for being gay. They have a choice: they can marry members of the opposite sex or stay single…”

Implicit in this, though is an acceptance of the lie of the enemy that there are truly people who are by nature, gay; made homosexual by God, the creator. There is overwhelming evidence that this is not so; particularly with the increasing number of people who have successfully fought same-sex attraction. Newspapers ought to join in holding out homosexuality as the perversion that it is rather than facetiously grant them recognition and then admonish as the Guardian did that “they only draw unfavourable attention to themselves when they threaten the safety and security of the majority.”

But easily the most worrisome part of the editorial is its conclusion: “Since sodomy is already criminalised in Nigeria, we wonder whether the National Assembly is utilising its time optimally by focusing on homosexuality when the majority of our people are suffering from hunger, lack of access to water and disease. Moreover, as pointed out by the gay lobbyists, same sex marriage is not a common social practice in Nigeria therefore legislating against it is redundant and can only further stigmatise the sexual minority. Perhaps the National Assembly should be spending its time on real issues that impact on the lives of long-suffering Nigerians.”

First, this conclusion seems to dismiss the bill currently before the House of Representatives as merely intended to “criminalise” sodomy. It goes beyond that. For one, it even reduces the penalty from 14 years to five, making it less punitive than the provisions of the Criminal Code! For another, if passed, it will send a strong signal to the international gay lobby that the Nigerian society is not about to buy into their lie. Most importantly, it will forestall the likelihood of a powerful, rich lobby coming through the backdoor to have the current law taken of the statute book on the pretext of reviewing “colonial laws.”

The second and, for me, more critical issue raised by the conclusion is what I see as “the price of fish syndrome.” First the Guardian wonders: “whether the National Assembly is utilising its time optimally by focusing on homosexuality when the majority of our people are suffering from hunger, lack of access to water and disease.” And when it stopped wondering went on to advise: “Perhaps the National Assembly should be spending its time on real issues that impact on the lives of long-suffering Nigerians.”

It’s a subject, I have addressed in this column before and some of the things I wrote then might bear repetition here.

In “Obama, Goose Bumps and Nigeria (2)” (September 14, 2008), I pointed out that if we are to avoid the socio-cultural abyss to which the United States has sunk through extreme liberalism, we need to reign in our liberalist tendencies. That piece concluded in these words: “… When all those so-called more serious matters have been dealt with, the issues being currently touted as unimportant would have become intractable…”

In Homosexuality and the Price of Fish (October 12, 2008), I referred to that piece noting that “one of those issues being characterised as unimportant today…is homosexuality. As someone would have put it, what has homosexuality or nudity got to do with the price of fish, or garri? For effect, he would have added, “make we hear word, jare” which is street lingo for, let’s get serious.” That is exactly what the Guardian has said in more elegant prose.

In that October piece, I recalled a TIME online story which demonstrated how “within the space of 43 years, homosexuality and same-sex marriages have transformed from being a sin, a crime and a mental illness, to becoming an orientation to which human rights apply, a social preference and is increasingly being de-listed as a sin in many parts of the United States of America.”

I conclude today, as I did then - on a note of warning: “homosexuality might fare better sooner in Nigeria, if Nigerians, particularly the Church do not move against it now! The best of economic strategies will flounder in a decaying social milieu. The current state of the world’s economy is clear evidence that everything that can be shaken will be shaken, and that only that which is built on righteousness will stand.”
*PIX: Hon Dimeji Bankole, Speaker, Federal House of Representatives, Nigeria