The criticism President Goodluck Jonathan has faced in some
quarters for signing the Same-s*x Marriage Prohibition Bill 2011 into
law is in my opinion clearly misplaced. For one, these critics have to
understand that the way and manner democracy works, at least in Nigeria,
is that the Legislature makes the laws, the Executive implements it and
the Judiciary interprets it.
But be that as it may, in Nigeria, the President at any time is
both a Head of State as well as the Head of Government, this is one
reason why the President is called an Executive President. Continue…
As Head of State, President Jonathan is duty bound to epitomize the
culture of Nigeria. As the late Afrobeat Maestro, Fela Anikulapo Kuti,
sang in his hit song, ‘Teacher Don’t Teach me Nonsense’, the
government’s teachers are culture and tradition. In fact, to quote Fela,
he said ‘who be government teacher, culture and tradition’.
Many of those now criticizing the President danced with glee and
agreement to that tune because as Jesus Christ said in John 8:32 ”you
shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”. What Christ
did not add, but which we have come to find out ourselves is that before
the truth sets you free, it may first make you angry!
Nigeria has its culture and it is the duty of governments to protect their culture.
It is quite unfortunate that critics who praise foreign human right
agencies for calling for sanctions against Nigeria have not realized
that Nigeria has cultures that many foreign nations would not tolerate.
For instance, Amy Chua, popularly known as ‘The Tiger Mom’ has an
upcoming book entitled ‘The Triple Package’ in which she lists Nigerians
as one of 8 Super Races who raise excellent children. One of the
reasons which Chua lists for the successes of Nigerian parenting is the
fact that many if not all Nigerian parents would not think twice about
spanking a child who misbehaves as a way of correcting their behavior.
Many of my readers will agree that the fear of a spanking is a
great motivator to behave well. In fact, some Nigerian parents will even
spank their children if they have bad grades at school. Chua notes that
the fear of such a spanking greatly motivates Nigerian children to do
better than children of other nationalities. It is worth noting that Amy
Chua is of Asian origin.
As a result, wherever they go, but especially in the United States,
Nigerians are the immigrant community with the highest educational
qualifications bar none!
However, it is actually illegal to spank children in many US states
and in much of Europe and Nigerian parents have been arrested for
motivating their children via spanking.
Now, if foreign domains would not tolerate something that is part
of our own culture and which has been used to positive effects by
generations of Nigerians, why should we accept something that is not in
our own culture in order to please others?
In the modern world in which we live in, male and female se*uality
have been flashed very powerfully and provocatively by the media on
youths approaching puberty to the extent that mixed messages on
se*uality are passed on to many youths who do not know how to handle the
images they see and their response to them.
The confusion that these images bring lead to tendencies being
formed. If these tendencies are fed, they will grow stronger. If they
are starved, they will grow weaker.
Almost 100 percent of the Nigerian population declare that they are
Christian, Muslim or Traditionalists. All of these religions reject
homosexuality as a way of life. Let me make myself very clear here,
these religions reject homosexuality as a way of life and not
homosexuals. During His lifetime on earth, Jesus hated sin but showed
love to sinners.
As such, we must understand that good laws shouldn’t conflict with
The Word of God to suit lifestyles. Rather, they should conflict with
lifestyles to suit The Word of God.
There would be people that would say the law is not fair to those
with such a lifestyle and they may have a point. But we must be able to
distinguish between what is fair and what is right. They are not the
same thing.
For instance, if you are a Christian you know that in Christianity,
once there is genuine repentance, God will still forgive even a serial
killer and leave open the doorway to eternal life in His Kingdom to such
a person. On the other hand, if his victims died without accepting
Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, according to Scripture, they
would be unable to access eternal life in the kingdom of God.
Now, if you ask me, I would say that it does not sound fair, and
many people would be of the same opinion. But it is right, if you are a
Christian, because Christians believe that God made us and is Sovereign
over us.
It is not only homosexuality that is against our culture and the
religions which we profess as Nigerians. Corruption, oil theft, election
rigging, terrorism and other activities are likewise against our
culture and religion and we have made laws against them and people have
been arrested and sent to jail. Nobody is singling out homosexuality.
So when foreign Oped pieces lampoon the Nigerian Legislature as
well as the Federal Government, rather than hold these opinion pieces as
proof that an error was made with the signing into law of this bill,
what we as Nigerians must do is to ask ourselves the question, what
should be the driver of our Grundnorm, the basic norm, order and rule
that forms the underlying basis for our legal system? Should it be the
opinions and cultures of other nations or should it be the cultures of
our people?
And it is trite nonsense for critics to write that the President
only signed the Bill in order to distract the public. With all due
respect, distract the public from what? If a genuine rebranding of a
nation is the projection of positive things that are happening, then
there are enough positive things happening in Nigeria that are capable
of catching and holding the attention of Nigerians.
For the first time in our nation’s history, this year’s World
Economic Forum on Africa will be hosted by Nigeria in Abuja from May
7-9, 2014. The choice of Nigeria as a host is against the background
that Nigeria, under President Jonathan, has recently emerged as the
largest economy in Africa (tinyurl.com/pbbld8r). Today, Nigerians live
10% longer than they did in 2007 and earn 65% more than they did in the
same period (tinyurl.com/y5tfwwd) and (tinyurl.com/yyl5xy2).
With the growth in our economy and the progress in our Human
Development Index, why would the President need to divert the attention
of Nigerians with the Same-s*x Marriage Prohibition Bill? If there is
any distraction at all it is that this storm in a tea cup is distracting
media attention from the real and tangible benefits of the
Transformation Agenda such as the fact that Nissan recently announced
that as a result of the new National Automobile Policy they would begin
to build cars in Nigeria with effect from 2014.
Let me add one last word to those who continue to criticize
President Jonathan. You can’t pursue greatness and comfort at the same
time. Leaders must be willing to stand up for what they know is right
even when critics cry for blood.
