CALLING EMEKA IHEDIOHA AND CO

Sir Emeka Ihedioha, Deputy Speaker,
Federal House of Representatives

"The House of Representatives must be encouraged to fast track its debate and passage. Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha has a major role here. As one of the sponsors of the aborted 2009 House Bill 150 (A Bill for an Act to Prohibit Marriage between Persons of Same Gender, Solemnization of Same and for other Matters related therewith)” , he must now rally all the other sponsors still in the House to spearhead this new move. Any loss of momentum can be fatal."

With the passing of Senate Bill 05, formally cited as “An Act to Prohibit Same Sex Marriages” last week, one giant step has been taken towards dealing a major blow for righteousness, in our social milieu. But it is, to borrow a cliché, one down, two to go.

I wish to congratulate our distinguished senators for being truly distinguished on this subject. The missionary zeal with which they went about it, as seen live on television, further persuades me that many of our senators are patriots able to rise in defence of the national interest. Against the background that the government of the United Kingdom did not stop at its general declaration of an “aid war” on African nations who fail to accord homosexuality human rights status, but also sent a letter to the Senate Committee considering the bill, the senators must be applauded for their courage.

Their defiance of external interference in the regulation of our social and moral conduct was very clearly demonstrated by the unanimity of the passage and voiced by the Senate President. His words: “Anybody can write to us, but our values are our values. If there is any country that does not want to give us aid or assistance, just because we hold on very firmly to our values, that country can keep its assistance. No country has a right to interfere in the way we make our own laws.”

But as I said above, we are still two steps away from the bill becoming law. The House of Representative still has to debate and pass it; and in case of differences in the two versions, go for harmonisation. The harmonised version would of course require the signature of the President to become an Act of the National Assembly. In other words, the battle is not over yet.

If experience has shown anything about the way the international gay lobby functions, they will work hard to abort this bill at either of the next two steps. They will use every weapon in their arsenal – money, blackmail, intimidation, carrot and stick etc. There’s therefore the need for everybody in support of this law to do everything possible to avoid a loss of momentum. The House of Representatives must be encouraged to fast track its debate and passage. Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha has a major role here. As one of the sponsors of the aborted 2009 House Bill 150 (A Bill for an Act to Prohibit Marriage between Persons of Same Gender, Solemnization of Same and for other Matters related therewith)” , he must now rally all the other sponsors still in the House to spearhead this new move. Any loss of momentum can be fatal.

The President has already demonstrated his opposition to the conferment of human rights status to homosexuality through our permanent representative, Ambassador Joy Ogwu’s vote during a recent debate in the United Nations. He should not be allowed room for any kind of rethink!

Incidentally, one of the tactics that would be employed by the gay lobby is to play on the liberal sensibilities of the intelligentsia in Nigeria by downplaying the importance of the gay issue relative to other so called pressing national issues. They will point out that corruption is still alive and well; that kidnapping and armed robbery are still rampart; that the Boko Haram sect is yet to be reined in; that our economy is tottering etc. And from that position accuse of legislators of misplaced priority and denounce them as an unserious bunch.  Many of those who would canvass this position of course mean well; they would be sincere; but they would be sincerely wrong.

It is a scenario I addressed in an article headlined, “Homosexuality and the Price of Fish”. That piece on October 12, 2008, noted that because of our liberal tendencies, we have been dismissing attempts by governments to deal with social issues of any kind as unimportant. Pointing out that homosexuality was one of those issues being characterised as unimportant, I wrote: “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”. 

As I wrote then, “they would be dead right, if the gay challenge wasn’t getting dead serious, as a recent newspaper report demonstrated. The report headlined: ‘Gay Church Arrives Nigeria’, had two riders: ‘Christian, Muslim clerics declare: it’s evil!’ ‘National Assembly must fight it.’”

The report was published by Sunday Sun then read in part like this: “For the first time in Nigeria, men who openly declared themselves as homosexuals gathered penultimate weekend at a church in Ojodu, a Lagos suburb. Under the auspices of a yet-to-be registered church - House of Rainbow Metropolitan Community Church - the men held a seminar and night vigil. The heavily guarded event paraded men who wore necklaces, rings, conducted themselves and spoke softly like women”.

Continued the report which carried the bylines of Jossy Idam and Paul Omo Obadan: “Ironically, the homosexuals held the fiesta in the hall of United Bible University, Yakoyo Road, Ojudu, Lagos. The venue also serves as a place of worship for Christian Pentecostal Mission (CPM). The event, Sunday Sun learnt, was championed by a lawyer and theologian, Rev. Roland Babajide Macaulay. On the days of the event, a retinue of mean-looking, ill-tempered security men barred our reporter from entering the venue and meeting the men…”  

“House of Rainbow Metropolitan Community Church is reported to have been in existence since 2006 and is said to be affiliated to other metropolitan community churches in America and Europe. Its “mission and vision”, according to the Sunday Sun report, quoting a public statement by Rev. Roland Macaulay is “to transform hearts, lives and history and especially, to help people reconcile their sexuality and spirituality.” 

As I wrote then, the report simply shows “the international gay movement is gaining inroads into our nation while we ‘get serious’ with those seemingly urgent issues ‘that has to do with the price of fish and garri.’ 

In that column, I also quoted a Time magazine online story which demonstrated how  “within the space of 43 years, homosexuality and same-sex marriages had transformed from being a sin, a crime and a mental illness, to become 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 warned then that “homosexuality might fare better in Nigeria sooner, if Nigerians do not move against it now!  Thank God, the Senate has risen to the challenge. Will both the House of Representatives and the President join in dealing this blow for righteousness?