President Goodluck Jonathan has accused his main
challenger in March 28 election, Muhammadu Buhari,
of assuring western nations of his preparedness to
support same-sex marriage if he wins the forthcoming
polls.
Mr. Jonathan, who spoke through his campaign
organization, said Mr. Buhari made the pledge to secure
the support of the countries to win election.
Femi Fani-Kayode, the Spokesperson of President
Jonathan, said four western countries extracted a
commitment from Mr. Buhari, who represents the All
Progressives Congress, to support a legislation enabling
same sex marriage.
Amid a flurry of apparently election-fuelled allegations,
the claim by the Jonathan camp Wednesday seemed one
of the most serious.
Still, Mr. Fani-Kayode, reputed for making
unsubstantiated allegations against political opponents,
refused to give the names of the four countries he was
referring to.
Mr. Buhari, seen by his supporters as a non-nonsense
former military leader, whose brief administration in
the 1980s waged campaigns against indiscipline and
corruption, has not given any hint suggesting he would
condone same-sex relationship, already outlawed in
Nigeria.
Nigeria's National Assembly has already passed a bill
making gay marriage a criminal offense, and offenders
risk spending 14 years in jail if convicted.
But addressing a press conference on Wednesday in
Abuja, Mr. Fani-Kayode said the proposition was made
to Mr. Buhari by the representatives of a number of
western governments when he was in the United
Kingdom recently.
Mr. Fani Kayode said Mr. Buhari had appealed to the
western leaders for support and to get their
endorsement.
"He had talks with the representatives of at least four
western countries. The leaders of those countries made
an offer to General Muhammadu Buhari and we are
reliably informed that he has put the offer under
consideration.
"The proposition and offer was that if he was prepared
to support legislation in Nigeria to allow same sex
marriage and if he was prepared to repeal the anti-gay
laws in Nigeria they will, in return, endorse, support
and fund him, initially covertly and eventually publicly,
at the right time," he said.
He also said that instead of out rightly rejecting these
offers and spurning this proposition, Mr. Buhari
"apparently refused to rule it out and has put the
matter under consideration.
"Instead of him to say NO he assured them that he
would consider these two things.
"We believe that this is a matter that ought to be
brought to the attention of the Nigerian people as a
matter of urgency," he said.
Mr. Fani-Kayode added that the APC are so desperate to
ensure that Mr. Buhari becomes the President of
Nigeria that they are actually prepared to consider the
scrapping of all anti-gay or anti-homosexual legislations
and at the same time, endorsing and supporting fresh
legislation that would allow same sex marriage in the
country.
"They are considering this despite the fact that the
overwhelming majority of the Nigerian people find
same sex marriage and, indeed, homosexuality
repugnant and unacceptable.
"We are using this occasion to challenge General Buhari
to come clean and to tell the Nigerian people whether
this is true and whether, in the unlikely event of his
being elected President, he is seriously considering
scrapping the anti-homosexual laws in our country and
pushing through new legislation which would allow
same sex marriage," Mr. Fani-Kayode said. Fani my nigga. This guy sha! |
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