Agitations
for legislation of gay marriage in Nigeria was dealt another blow yesterday as
the House of Representatives, unanimously threw out the Bill.
The development was coming a year after the
Senate passed a bill banning same-sex marriage and prescribed 14 years
imprisonment for violators.
The Senate Bill is awaiting ratification by
the House before it will be assented to by President Goodluck Jonathan.
The Bill, presented before the House sought
to strenghten the existing legislation which already outlaws gay sex by
criminalising anyone who witnesses or assists such marriages, or make public
displays of affection by people of same sex, a culpable offence. Under the new
law, groups that support gay rights would also be banned.
Reeling out the relevance of the Bill, the
House Majority Leader, Hon Mulikat Adeola-Akande (PDP Oyo) noted: “It is alien
to our society and culture and it must not be imported. Our religions abhor it
and our culture has no place for it.” Akande’s position drew support from
members who also flayed, in strong terms, the introduction of such practice to
human sexual relationship. Hon. Adams Jagaba Adams (Kaduna PDP) and Bimbo Daramola
(Ekiti ACN) implored Nigerians to defy threats from Western countries to freeze
their aids to Nigeria over their opposition to the act. On her part, the
Chairman, House Committee on Diaspora, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa (Lagos ACN) while
expressing support for Bill called for caution in view of the touchy human
rights implication on persons likely to be affected by the legislation. In his
contribution, House Minority Leader and Leader of Opposition, Femi Gbajabiamila
(Lagos ACN),contended: “The Bill represents a convergence of both law and
morality. This issue (same-sex marriage) is both illegal and immoral”.
He insisted that same sex marriage was a
clear breach of Nigeria’s Marriage Act. In the same vein, the Chairman, House
Committee on Foreign Affairs, Nnenna Elendu-Ukeje (Abia PDP) argued that the
Bill presented “a competition between religious principles and international
convention which Nigeria is a signatory to.” After an exhaustive debate which
lasted for about two hours, Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal refered the Bill to
the Committee of the Whole for further legislative action
Source: Sun.
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