RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY, INTOLERANCE AND CORRUPTION ARE GREATER EVILS IN NIGERIA THAN HOMOSEXUALITY

Nigerians like E.O Eke who, instead of thinking
of how to copy advanced technology and
entrepreneurship from developed countries for
the development of Nigeria, waste their lives
abroad copying homosexuality and lesbianism
are now in an absolute danger of languishing in
Nigerian jails if they dare practise or talk of
their weird, beastly gay culture in my
fatherland, Nigeria. Thanks President Jonathan
for signing the anti-gay bill into law. Nigerian
gay idiots abroad like E.O Eke should stay in
UK and USA to practise their abomination in
the name of beastly civilization and inhuman
rights.
- Basil
Basil, Basil, thank you for your thoughtfulness.
The idiot, Eke, should tell Nigerians in his
frustrated and hopeless articles on nigeriaworld
how much medical technology and
entrepreneurship he has brought home to
Nigeria in his donkey years of living in the UK.
A homosexual CAN NEVER teach Nigerians how
to govern or develop Nigeria. It is only Nigerian
gays and lesbians abroad that care to read the
trash he churns out on that website.
- Femi
Basil and femi, I appreciate your understanding
about homosexuality and lesbianism in Nigeria.
We, Nigerians should continue to resist the
temptation of allowing Americans and the
British to teach us what human rights and
human freedom mean. Americans and the
British are accustomed to teaching other
nationals the need to respect human rights and
freedom while the fire of racism,
discrimination, suppression, domination,
prejudice, and racial hatred against minorities
is smoldering or burning unquenchably in every
aspect of their public and private lives.
Homosexuality is inherent with numerous
health hazards and diseases. Nigerians who
want Nigeria to decriminalize homosexuality
should, first of all, build and furnish hospitals in
Nigeria to take care of the numerous diseases
that come with homosexuality and lesbianism.
In the State of North Carolina, USA, where I
live, 70% of hospital ownership and
management belongs to American private
individuals, not to the government. Instead of
Nigerians abroad to learn good ideas from their
host countries and use those ideas to improve
the lot of our people at home, what they
emulate is homosexuality and how to castigate
Nigerian government for not developing the
country for them. The evil people do always
follows them.
Thanks, Alphonsus

Efew days ago I got the above mails from
three Nigerians who have stalked me with
abusive mails and threats ever since I
opposed the criminalisation of
homosexuality in an article. Since then, President
Jonathan has assented the bill stipulating 14 years
prison term for gay marriage and suddenly, there
have been wide arrests of suspected homosexuals
who are not married or in relationships. The
criminalisation of homosexuality, the persecution
of suspected homosexuals and their wanton
arrests, have become something of joy to
Nigerians like the above, whose intolerance,
ignorance and bigotry, justifies injustice and evils
against people who are different or do not share
the same worldviews with them. This is unjust,
discriminatory and a violation of the liberty and
fundamental human rights others. It shows a
worrying intolerance and deep seated prejudice
against people for the only reason that they are
different or chosen differently and it is frightening.
This is the real reason and foundation for all
genocides. Nigerian government has passed an
unjust and discriminatory law, which seem to
have given impetus to bigots and religious
fanatics to act out there hatred and prejudices
against those who do not share the same world
views with them. This is wrong and unjust, and
would not lead to the development of a tolerant,
peaceful and better society.
The attitude of many Nigerians towards things like
homosexuality is shaped by religious and
traditional beliefs. They are often grossly ill-
informed about any other aspect of the problems
apart from what the Bible and Quran say and deal
with the issues with all the ignorance and
prejudice of the religion and tradition. Such
attitude has no room for difference and very
intolerant of dissent. This makes it difficult for
them to examine their intolerance, and
discriminatory attitude and unable to understand
that it constitutes discrimination and violation of
the individual liberties of others. By their attitude,
they show that they have no respect for other,
and only respond to their beliefs. They have no
understanding of liberty and are unable to
appreciate why criminalisation of behaviours, in
which no one, but those involved are affected is
intolerance constitutes violation of individual
liberty. Their minds function like the minds of
extremists and only respond to what they like,
believe in, or want. Their minds are minds formed
on the altar of beliefs and hold whatever they
accept as the truth with delusional intensity. Such
minds are incapable of civil debate, do not
understand tolerance and often resort to abuse
and or aggression to have their way.
I derive my moral compass from the Christian
religion. I hold the view that homosexuality is
immoral; having been taught in the church that it
is an abomination. However, having grown up,
studied, learnt and experienced and seen life from
many perspectives, I have seen the limitation of
the religious narrative in securing peaceful
coexistence and the need for people to be
tolerant. I am also too well aware of the evils of
prejudice of the type people who are in support of
criminalisation of homosexuality express and what
they are capable of doing to others in the name of
religion and God. As Apostle says, when I was a
child I thought as a child, and now I have given up
childish things and seen things clearer. As a
democrat who believes in liberty, tolerance,
equality and separation of religion from politics
among other values, I abhor the use of political
power in a secular democracy to criminalise what
religion condemns. Therefore the targeting of
homosexuals in Nigeria is an act of discrimination,
bigotry and intolerance. It is akin to the witch hunt
of the 15th century Europe, when the Church of
Rome used its powers to criminalise sins and
persecuted a great number of people including
homosexuals and mentally ill people, either as
heretics or witches.
By giving assent to this bill to become law,
President Jonathan is demonstrating that beliefs
are more important than knowledge, liberty and
justice as fairness and this is simply unfortunate to
say the least. This is an unjust law because it is
based on nothing, but ignorance, intolerance and
bigotry. Nigeria has entered a dark age from
which it must emerge, if it will develop.
Criminalisation of homosexuality is just the
beginning; the legislators and their extremist
supporters will find more bad behaviours to
criminalise except, dishonesty, wanton looting of
the treasury, child marriage, marrying many
wives, abuse of political, extremism and
prejudice.
There is a better way to structure a society apart
from modelling it in the image of one religion,
religious dogmas or traditional beliefs alone. The
intolerant way many hold their religious beliefs in
Nigeria today is a sign of ignorance and primitivity
because intolerance and ignorance are the hall
mark of primitive societies. Societies can be
structured on civil values and the rule law, which
guarantees the freedom of all, saints and sinners.
Any society in which men find reason to sanction
others based on religious convictions or dogmas
and find reason to legitimise the persecution of
others for the only reason that they are different,
is an unjust and intolerant society. Nigeria has
legitimised intolerance, injustice and
discrimination of those who are different. This
cannot be right.
I do not advocate the promotion of homosexuality
because it is not different from any other immoral
behaviour which the Abrahamic religions
characterise as sin. What I am against is hiding
behind religion to legitimise persecution, injustice
and discrimination for the simple reason that what
is good, cannot be unjust and what is unjust
cannot be fair, no matter the underlying
traditional beliefs or religious convictions and
justification.
History tells us that Europe did in dark ages, what
Nigeria is doing today. Europeans were drunk on
religion and traditions and believed in demonogy,
and attributed all their ills to the devil and sexual
perversions. They saw the world in black and
white and those who were not with them were
against them. This religious and traditional world
view sparked the witch hunt in which even science
for a time, collaborated with religion to perpetrate
some of the worst inhumanities human beings
have inflicted against those who are different.
They were rescued by enlightenment and mean
who found the courage to speak out against
popular opinion. Today, European countries are
more tolerant of diversity and have become
places of refuge for those persecuted for their
religious beliefs or differences.
The Nigerian anti gay law is an example of where
Nigeria is on her evolution as a developing society
and should give every well meaning person
serious concern. One can condemn an act (sin)
without criminalising it. I condemn stealing, but
against the lynching of thieves or cutting off of
their hands as some believe appropriate and
approved by God. I condemn murder, but against
death sentence. I hate and condemn smoking, but
do not think it is appropriate to criminalise
smoking. The list is endless. I hate sin but love the
sinners, being one of them. Unfortunately not
every person learns to think this way, even though
they can, if they try.
Instead of addressing the issue of corruption in
Nigerian, the legislator found in homosexuals a
convenient target to project some of Nigeria's
woes which have nothing to do with them. Nazi
Germany under Hitler did the same. Homosexuals
are not one of the main problems of Nigeria. In
fact, they cause little or no problems. Most
criminals and corrupt politicians in Nigeria are
heterosexuals and from large families which are
also religious. Their religion often prohibits family
planning, which put the lives of women at risk and
leaves families with many children which they
cannot educate or care for. These are the real
cause of Nigerian problems.
It is ignorant for anybody to think that Nigerians
current attitude to religion and morality is superior
to western attitude. The common argument that
the west wants to corrupt Nigeria is nonsense.
Nigerians who want to be corrupted are already
corrupted. There have always been gays in Nigeria
from antiquity. Those in support of this
discriminatory legislation are simply mistaking
sanctimonies platitude and religious bigotry for
virtue. There cannot be morality where there is no
justice and there cannot justice without equality
and no one can honestly claim equality, when
they have discriminatory laws as we have in
Nigeria.
Therefore, the bigots who keep sending me hate
mails because I defend the right of people to live
their lives they way they choose, should simply go
back to school, or read more to understand what
really makes a good society and how evil religion
can be, when used in the way they want to use in
Nigeria; or used to defend discriminatory
legislation targeted at a minority population: as is
the case with the recently promulgated anti
homosexual law. Being a cleric, having a PhD
degree or graduating in medicine or law is not
enough to enable an individual understand what
constitutes a good society and how it should be
structured and Nigerians should be guided by
those who understand that there is more to
morality than religion teaches its adherents.
The Nigerian anti-homosexual law has all the hall
marks of a bad and sinister law. It targets a
minority population. It criminalises a behaviour
that harms no one but those who engage in it. It
validates religious prejudice and seeks to use the
law to enforce religious morality. It is intolerant
and violets other peoples' liberty and fundamental
human right to choose how they live their life.
These and more, are the reasons why I oppose
and continue to oppose the anti homosexual law.
It is not because I am a homosexual or consider it
morally neutral. I will defend the right of my
enemy to liberty, but would make sure in a lawful
and civil manner, where possible, that he does not
use his liberty to injure my person or interest. This
is enlightenment. There is a better way of dealing
with such issues and there is no reason why
Nigeria should not aspire to do better than the
west. Instead of using something the west used in
the middle ages to deal with the same problem
and found out after hundreds of years that
criminalisation of homosexuality does not work,
Nigerians should seek a better way of balancing
liberty with religious morality to achieve peaceful
coexistence, without the persecution of a minority
groups.
I believe in social justice, rule of law, justice as
fairness and equality, and no one has any right to
criminalise what God has given people right to
choose, if they so desire. God is the judge and not
Christianity or Islam. The government should
repeal the anti gay law and we should have an
honest debate on the best way to treat our
brothers and sisters who have chosen a life style
we will never choose. After all, Jesus said love the
sinner but hate the sin. How can we love the
sinner, if we are happy to lock him up for 14 years
for doing the same thing (sinning) many of us do
every day?
Religion is an unsafe construct on which to build
any societies. Every single attempt in history to
do this failed. Current attempts have not
succeeded. It gives rise to very bigoted and
divided societies, where injustices and persecution
are rife. It does not bring God down; rather, it
gives the devil opportunity to show how evil the
religious can be. The morality it preaches can
easily be inculcated in people without its
intolerance and prejudice, which puts people who
are different at risk. There is no need to witch hunt
homosexuals. They have the rights to a life style
of their choice and God has not mandated any
religion to get rid of homosexuality in this world.
This is pure religious intolerance and prejudice and
it is sad.
I speak out against this injustice because it is
wrong. Persecution of sinners has never been an
act of righteousness, as apostle Paul found out on
his way to Damascus. The government should
pause and realise that criminalising homosexuality
will not stop people choosing to express their
sexuality in that way. It will not stop one single
Nigerian from becoming a homosexual, if he or
she so decides. The government should repeal the
law and bring in a better way of encouraging
people to choose what is morally generally
acceptable and allowing those who choose
differently to live their lives in peace. The aim
should be peaceful coexistence and not a
religiously inspired utopia, where all will be forced
to live as one religion prescribe

E O Eke is qualified in medicine. At various times
he has been a General medical practitioner,
Medical missionary, Medical Director and senior
medical officer of health in Nigeria. He specializes
in child, Adolescent and adult psychiatry and lives
in England with his family. His interest is in health,
religion philosophy and politics. He cares for body
and mind.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone provided by Airtel Nigeria.

CRIES FOR MY BELOVED COUNTRY ...SCHIZOPHRENIC DEMOCRACY AND CRIMINAL’ MENTALITY OF NIGERIAN LEADERS

"State governments' proposed recurrent
expenditure, comprising salaries and
overheads, has increased by 30 percent this
year compared to last year, according to an
analysis of the states' 2014 budget
presentations. The 36 states have proposed to
spend N2.740 trillion on salaries, allowances,
overheads and other components of recurrent
expenditure. This figure is about 30 percent
higher than last year's N2.105 trillion budgeted
for the same purposes" Transparency for
Nigeria.

Early in 2011, I wrote an article 'ethnic
nationalism the elephant in Nigeria'. In the
intervening period, many of the issues I
raised in the article have become reality
and sadly, have become a common feature of the
Nigerian democracy and society. There is no
doubt that Nigeria's democracy is endangered by
corruption, suspicion, and mistrust, which have
their origin in a culture of dishonesty and ethnic
and religious intolerances and prejudices. The
very sad thing about it is that, successive
governments have not focused on these problems
with the view to finding solutions to them, and
they are becoming herculean as the country
continues to fracture along sectarian fault lines.
The result is that Islamic fundamentalism has
taken root in the north, while criminal fraternity
involved in oil bunkering, kidnapping and armed
robbery has taken over the south. Nigeria is
indeed, bedevilled by serious human, social
economic and political problems whose capacity
to bring about its demise can no longer be
ignored. What has emerged is a Nigeria where
politicians preach one Nigeria in public, while in
private they reinforce and appeal to sectarian
constructs to remain relevant and retain their
position amongst their people and continue to
benefit from the rot and misgovernance that is the
order of the day. Consequently, all political
permutations in Nigeria remain on the basis of
ethnicity and religion and nothing is said about the
ideologies, policies and values of the people
seeking power. This is the true tragedy of Nigeria
and why the current segregation of PDP to
metamorphose in APC is a source of worry and
does not represent a future for the country.
Nigeria needs a leadership that would take the bull
by the horn and wrestle it to ground, and not one
who would shoe it a red rag and frighten the
people with how strong the bull is.
It is also disheartening that after giving Nigeria
Shehu Shagari and Alex Ekwueme, himself and
Abubakar Atiku for 8 years, Umaru Yar Adua and
Goodluck Jonathan, and Goodluck Jonathan and
Namadi Sambo, that Olusegun Obasanjo still
believes that he knows what is best for Nigeria
and is plotting to have another say on who
becomes the next president of Nigeria. How does
a country deal with a problem like Obasanjo?
This is unacceptable. A good statesman should
know when to quit the stage no matter his sense
of self importance and how intelligent he believes
he is. It has become a particularly black African
thing, for leaders not to know when to leave the
stage. This is one of the reasons why the world
respected Nelson Mandela. He understood the
ephemeral nature of power and knew when to
pass it on. Very unfortunately, this does not seem
to the case with Nigerian leaders, who never
really believe that the world is a stage and we
come play our part and leave. At 70s and 80s,
they are still scheming to be party chairmen,
Ministers, Ambassadors, senators and presidents,
when there are young and dynamic youth, who
have what it, takes to correct their mistakes and
take the country forward. How can the old, lead
the way to the future?
When they meet, they look more like people in old
people homes celebrating Christmas, instead of
people who want to be trusted with the future of
their country. The result is that they have
governed Nigeria to death and still believe that
they hold the solution to the problems, when
every move they make makes worst. They have a
dog in a manger mentality. They have had their
time but could not solve the problems. Yet, they
refuse to give way for people with a different
mind-set and understanding of the problem to try.
It is either them, or nobody, a scotch earth
attitude to life that is routed in ignorance, greed
and selfishness.
Through corruption and greed, Nigerian leaders
have created a very unequal, unjust and unsafe
society where the rich live and the poor die, the
strong succeed and the weak fail; a society that
measures its morality in its persecution of those
who are different, intolerance and prejudice. They
have left a society where merit is not rewarded
and who someone knows, is more important than,
what they know, can do or their character.
Through the pursuit of discriminatory and unjust
policies which lead to development of good
schools and hospitals for only the army, police,
and politicians, they have created a divide society
where a section of the country benefits, while the
rest is worse off. The result is elitism which
defends injustice, inequality and unmerited
advantages of a few. Politicians, and senior army
and police officers are able to send their children
to private universities abroad, where they pay
exorbitant school fees from money made through
corruption, while they do nothing to create
conducive environment that nurture leaning in
Nigeria and give teachers what they need to do
the work they love very much. They show no
concern that academic staff of universities are on
strike for several months because their own
children are not studying in Nigeria. They show no
interest in research and often do not include it in
the budge, and when they do, they just pocket it.
Yet they are aware that everything that exists
today came from research. They are flown abroad
at tax payers' expense to receive specialist
medical care, while the rest of the people
patronise hospitals that are not fit for purpose.
Many Nigerian politicians, while in power, stole
public funds, which should have been in invested
in laying solid foundation for the education of
Nigeria youth, building and equipping hospitals,
good roads, strong institutions and a more equal
society. Some of them used the money to build
private schools, universities and hospitals where
only the rich can send their children. There is no
greater evil leaders can inflict on their people,
than to worsen the natural disadvantage of the
poor through greed. All these have resulted in a
divided society with fissured moral conscience,
which is about to fall apart. No wonder there is
today in Nigeria, 'a them against us mentality'
which poison the polity and create the need for
scapegoats.
This is why some of the 'have nots' justify crime
and see nothing wrong in kidnapping those who
seem to them to have benefited unfairly at their
expense. Nigeria needs leaders, who recognise
these facts and, are prepared to pursue inclusive
polices that would give everyone a chance, a
sense of belonging, reward merit and ensure equal
opportunity, and not leaders who would differ to
ethnicity, religion or status. Without this, Nigeria
will disintegrate under the weight of injustice,
intolerance, greed, extremism, criminality and
ethnic nationalism. Nigerian seems primed for an
upheaval of wanton destruction of lives and
properties with complete anarchy and confusion.
No government can sustain a country, where only
a few people benefits and the greater majority of
the people live in poverty, suffer, are dispossessed
and have no opportunity to achieve their potential
or earn a decent living. I suppose Nigerians need
to start seeing our problems for what they are:
man made human, social, economic and political
problems; created by a succession of bad and
corrupt governments: instead of ethnic or religious
problems. Of course, those who are currently
benefiting form the status quo, would like the
people to believe otherwise. The poor in the north,
south, east or west of Nigeria and Christians and
Muslims, all want the same thing: security, good
schools, accessible good health care, good
hospitals, good roads, pipe borne water, and
electricity, good sewage system and jobs. These
should be the problems Nigerian government and
people should focus on and not on ethnicity and
religion, important as they are. Nigerians and her
government need to get serious with nation
building or vote to peacefully dissolve this
increasingly impossible union.
It is difficult to see a future for Nigeria at the rate
corrupt leaders is recycled. Instead of expelling
them from the system, successive government
recycle the same old criminals, who have been
destroying the country. If they are not ministers or
special advisers, they are chairmen of boards. If
they are not senators, they are party chairmen.
While many developing countries are restructuring
their armies and reducing defence spending,
Nigeria is increasing her defence spending and
increasing her army. While many developed
country have phased out automatic promotion in
their military, Nigeria continues to operate a
system that sees promotion as right instead of
privilege, and produces many army generals, than
any comparable country needs in peace time.
Nigeria has many army generals, but cannot
articulate an effective strategy to defeat Boko
Haram.
There is no attempt to task them to provide an
effective military strategy to defeat the Islamic
insurgency crippling the north of the country and
spreading insecurity through out the rest of the
country. Daily we hear of Boko Haram ambushing
army convoys and attacking military barracks and
yet, the army seem unable to modify the way it
transports soldiers to stop them being soft target
for the terrorists and how they guard their military
bases to avoid being taken unawares. Does one
need to be a general in the army or have a PhD in
warfare and military tactics to figure out that the
first thing a man who is fighting an unseen enemy
should do, is to become both invisible and
unpredictable. Who is the defence minister, what
does he think of the current military strategy?
It is the way Nigeria is governed that makes me
think that there is something schizophrenic about
the country. It does not seem to conform to any
known rule. There is no pattern to its decision
making. Often it is based not on evidence or
economic principles, but on ethnicity and religious
convictions, which have been demonstrated to be
unsafe constructs on which to base such decisions.
In the midst of serious economic and political
problems worsened by institutionalised
corruption , and poverty of leadership, what some
of those whose past inaptitude , prejudice and
greed created the sowed the seed of the problem
can do, is ask the country to fast and pray. This is
in a world where we know that God always work
when men decided to do what is right. Sometimes
I wonder, if Nigerian leaders are simply naïve or
out right, evil, ignorant and deluded. Why should a
country that should be strengthening its
institutions to hold every body accountable and
enforce the rule of law, resort to praying and
selective justice? What will those who are causing
the problem do when everybody closes their
eyes? Why should Nigeria declare fasting and
praying, when what it needs is criminal justice
reform that would be effective at ensuring certain
retribution for all offenders and that no one
benefits from the proceeds of crime as many
politicians do at the moment?
At present, the same old culprits are ganging up
under a different name. They have not opened
any conversation with the Nigerian people. They
have not published any manifestoes and policies
they would pursue in office. They have not said a
word about how they would fight the elephants of
corruption, religious intolerance and toxic ethnic
nationalism. Rather, they have already shared the
position and outlined the various ways they plan
to siphon public fund into their private pockets
through phantom projects of the kind we have
seen recently executed by the deputy senate
president in his constituency.
I weep for Nigeria. Please, God open the eyes of
Nigerians to see the enormity of the problems and
the future that awaits those who cannot escape,
when the evils days come and help us by at least
ensuring that one honest man is elected as a
legislator, senator, governor and if at all possible,
as president in 2015, so that they can show
Nigerians that governance is about making life
better for all and not opportunity to steal what
belongs to all.

E O Eke is qualified in medicine. At various times
he has been a General medical practitioner,
Medical missionary, Medical Director and senior
medical officer of health in Nigeria. He specializes
in child, Adolescent and adult psychiatry and lives
in England with his family. His interest is in health,
religion philosophy and politics. He cares for body
and mind.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone provided by Airtel Nigeria.

I'M ASHAMED OF MY COUNTRY NIGERIA

Every once in a while America and Europe
tries to impose their social standards on
Africa. I think that they are wrong to do so.
As a Nigerian, however, I believe that I
have the right to criticize my own country when I
believe our government has erred. Recently
Nigeria criminalized gay marriage and gay
lifestyle. It now carries a 14-year prison sentence
if you are arrested as a result of same sex
marriage and a 10-year jail term if you are
arrested for just living your life as openly gay.
Since the law was signed by President Jonathan a
few weeks ago many have been rounded up and
charged to court. A few days ago seven men were
stoned to death in Bauchi state under the Sharia
law for being gay. Now, there is a new video
making rounds in which two gay men were
brutally beaten to death while police men
watched. These are the sort of headlines I used to
see out of Iran and Saudi Arabia, very barbaric to
say the least, especially in 2014. I never in my
wildest dreams imagined my country sliding this
far behind.
I posted an article back in June titled "Nigeria gay
issues…and the hypocrisy of our politicians" I
wrote this immediately after the law was passed
in the Federal House of Representatives, and I
warned Nigerians of the consequences, but like
everything else in this country people simply
ignored the bill. Today it has been signed by our
president and its implementation has finally
woken some people. Those who defend this law
are quick to point out that it is supported by an
overwhelming number of Nigerians. I would
readily give it to them, but my question remains;
does it make it right or just? Perhaps I need to
remind these people that majority of Americans
supported the laws that allowed the enslavement
of our brothers and sisters in America two hundred
years ago and beyond. Majority of South African
whites supported the apartheid regimes for nearly
a century. Majority of Germans supported Hitler's
policy of exterminating the Jews. In spite of the
popular support for these policies, it does not
make them right or just.
Some have quoted the bible to back-up their
support for this law; others have found their refuge
in the Koran. I also need to remind you that there
were those who used bible verses to justify their
enslavement of fellow human beings. The truth is
that you can pretty much find anything in the
bible to justify your stance. For me, I'd rather
stand on the words of Jesus Christ, which says;
"love thy neighbor as thyself." If you love your
neighbor you would not stone him to death, even
if he is a homosexual, you would not even have
him imprisoned for being gay. Our problem in
Nigeria is that we often try to be more Catholic
than the Pope. The Pope responded when asked
about homosexual lifestyle, he said, "Who am I to
judge." In Nigeria today, we are judging, sending
them to prison, and stoning our brothers to death
in the name of religion. I am a Christian, and I
know that the Christ I serve would not do this.
When a woman was caught in adultery and the
Pharisees tried to stone her to death, Christ
challenged them to cast their stones if they have
no sin. Of course, they all dropped their stones
and went away.
It is true that the bible condemns homosexuality
as a sin, but so did the bible on a barrage of other
sins like adultery, fornication, etc. Is there anyone
in Nigeria House of Assembly, including our
president who is not guilty of these other sins? If
so, why have they not found the grace of God
within them to grant mercy to other sinners like
them? Many countries, including America and
Europe have gone this route before, and they
have come to regret it. As recent as ten years
ago, states like Texas in the US still have anti gay
(sodomy) laws in their books until they were
struck out by the US Supreme Court. A few
decades ago, the UK still had anti gay laws in their
books, and today they regret haven done so. I
have no doubt that Nigeria will one day regret
haven passed these laws, but for now, it is setting
us back 50 years, and there may never be any
recourse for its victims. Must we make all the
mistakes made by others before we learn? I
thought that their mistakes were supposed to be a
guiding light for us.
Surely, Nigeria is not yet civilized enough for one
to contemplate an introduction of gay marriage
rights or anything of the sort. I believe that it
would amount to a culture shock for our legislators
to consider passing laws that recognize gay
marriage, and to the best of my knowledge
nobody is seeking for such legislation in Nigeria.
Why then can't we allow them to live their lives in
peace? Why must we send someone to prison in
Nigeria just for being homosexual? All I have
heard from some defenders of this law is that the
bible said this and that. Well, as I recalled it, the
bible under the Law of Moses also calls for "an eye
for an eye" but Christ came and recommended we
turn the other cheek. In my previous article, I said
that Nigeria has 99 problems, but homosexuality
is not one of them. As I write this article, I am
burning up my generator to provide electricity for
myself. I'd love to see our National Assembly
members and our President spend their valuable
times trying to solve the numerous problems that
actually hinder Nigeria's progress instead of
chasing shadows.
Most Nigerians are simply wallowing in ignorance.
They will tell you that homosexuality is a white
man's problem, which does not exist in our
culture. The truth is that it has always been here.
We either don't know how to spot it, or are too
afraid to recognize what exists in our midst. Our
forefathers used to throw away twins, and
considered them evil. In my lifetime I witnessed
the throwing away of dead bodies for various
nefarious reasons such as (ida ibi, and ito afo) all
out of ignorance. Today, we are now sending
homosexuals to prison and stoning them to death.
Even these shall come to pass, I'm sure,
absolutely sure, but I'm filled with shame to see it
happening in my country in 2014. Lord have
mercy on us.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone provided by Airtel Nigeria.