A senior Nigerian senator has absurdly claimed that gay people are aiming to “oppress” and “blackmail” the rest of society.
According to the Daily Trust, Senate Majority Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, has urged Nigerians to “not succumb to blackmail of minority advocates and supporters of same-sex marriage to allow such union[s] in the country.”
In a paper, presented by his Special Adviser Ignatius Itcha at a theology seminar on gay marriage in Abuja on Tuesday, Egba asked: “The question is should all sexual behaviour be acceptable just because it appeals to a few conceited minds or does it not matter that such behaviour goes against the order of nature, public morals and the existence of the human race?”
Egba stated: “We live in a permissive world and the ideal of human rights now in operation, Nigeria’s socio-cultural and religious norms do not contemplate same-sex marriage and we must not allow vile passions of a few minorities to corrupt what is left of the moral fabric of the society”.
Nigeria’s Catholic Church organised the seminar under the theme “Union of Persons with Same-Sex Inclination: A Call for an African Christian Conversation.”
The senator’s paper was titled The Relevance of the 2013 Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act in Relation to Nigeria’s Penal Code Provision on Sodomy, and aimed to justify the internationally condemned law.
In reality, it is members of Nigeria’s LGBT community who face daily oppression and fear of blackmail because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Gay sex is illegal in Nigeria with 14 years imprisonment. Twelve northern states in Nigeria operate under Islamic Sharia law that allows homosexuality to be punished with death by stoning.
Anti-gay sentiment has swelled in recent months after the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act earlier this year further outlawed same-sex relationships and anyone who supports or operates gay clubs, societies and organisations.
