By: Bala Ajiya , DAMATURU
There are indications that the Nigerian anti-gay bill will finally become law with the lower chamber of the national assembly making attempts to give support to the upper chamber.

The Nigerian House of Representatives has begun a final push to criminalize homosexuality last Wednesday, a day after United States President Barack Obama issued an executive order for re-assessment of American foreign aid to countries discriminating against gays.

The bill outlawing all forms of homosexual behaviors and abetting them passed the first reading at the House. The anti- gay bill recorded a success in the senate recently but requires the backing of the two chambers to become law after presidential assent.

The bill will be open to further debates during the second reading before being referred for committee consideration ahead of the third and a final reading.

Under the law passed at the senate which the House is considering, any one guilty of gay acts, or abets or witnesses, is to face 14 years in jail.

There are suggestions the proposed jail term will either be reviewed upward, or in the minimum, left as passed by the senate.

As the bill was being read by the Clerk of the House, lawmakers sat quietly with some murmuring and shaking their heads in disgust. After the sitting, a member, hinted that the House would concur with the senate on the law.

The gay practice in Nigeria recently came to the fore, drawing the ire of some law-makers who sponsored a bill against the act.

In the Northern part of the country, there is a common practice where men act like women and speak as such. They walk and shake their buttocks like women and these men are called Dan Ludu in Hausa language. In English, they are gay men. Lesbians are called Madugo.

There is yet another category of men who could only have sex with women through the anus. According to investigations by Saturday Vanguard, gay practice in Nigeria are usually done by influential men in the society and this has become like belonging to a cult . All over Nigeria, the act appears to be becoming common by the day. A source who spoke on condition of anonymity told Saturday Vanguard that the practice is not a surprise because it is not new.

“ You may find this very strange but this is a cult for the high and the mighty in Nigeria. The new bill is a mere camouflage because the the big men in Nigeria’s society are guilty of Sodomy to the extent that they are infiltrating our schools and luring the youths with money and mundane things. Now, with the level of unemployment in the land, more young people are falling prey to gay practice.”

A legal luminary Barr. Okei John Onyemah has described the bill sponsored by Sen. Abe Magnus as a welcome development which prescribed 14 year jail term for anybody convicted of same sex marriage. He said “we are not living in Sodom and Gomorha .

Every society has its own ethics of culture and for those clamouring for same sex marriage, they are not well upstairs. I think they have some mental problems that need to be investigated because human beings are made to pro-create. So when a man starts marrying a man, you are destabilizing the work of God on man and that is not how God made it. In fact, I would have preferred life jail term for such ungodly act instead of 14 years imprisonment.

“Therefore about the gay reverend pastor who establish the Rainbow Church in Nigeria and is recruiting members into the act, it is a repulsive insult to both God and humanity to describe Rowland as a reverend because, what ever he is doing is unethical and unacceptable to religion. So the Gay Pastor is warped. I think he has lost his senses and for you to address him as a reverend also is un- acceptable. Sodomy is repulsive to the society. It destroys the human foundation on earth and heaven and if foreign countries want to impose such ungodly behavior on us because Nigeria receives foreign aids from them, we will no longer be interested in any foreign aid to Nigeria

“ Rowland who claims to be a Pastor is supposed to preach the word of God as a true Christian instead of what he is doing. He is directly robbing souls from God. So, my view is that Nigeria should be steadfast because the issue of gay marriage or gay relationship is repulsive.

Another source, an Alhaji who doesn’t want his name printedsaid “ homosexualism has been in practice since time immemorial despite the fact that Almighty Allah frowned at such practice. It was because of this gay practice that the Almighty Allah destroyed the whole generation of prophet Nuhu . In Nigeria, it is commonly practiced among northerners and some believe that if you engage in such illicit act, you become famous .

Some people practise it for fun despite the warning given in the Quran by Almighty Allah. I am baffled that it has to be a Senator from the South east who is a Christian that could sponsor a bill to criticize the homosexual act while his fellow Muslim colleagues in the Senate are adamant because the number of muslim senators in the national assembly outnumber the Christian senators.

“ But we thank God the bill scaled through and all the senators unanimously supported the anti gay bill, because this is a great sin on the sight of our Creator and an immoral act in this secular world. The penalty prescribed by the Almighty Allah in Quran for anybody that indulges himself or her in this act is death. It is an abomination and it really surprises me that some foreign countries frown at the bill.

Both the 14 years prison term promulgated by National assembly is not enough to serve as a deterrent to any culprits and the issue of withholding or suspending fund from international aid donors from abroad because of this sodomy issue particularly in England where they have endorse same sex marriage and they were trying to impose sanction on Nigeria for not supporting same sex marriage is ridiculous.”

Saturday Vanguard learnt that the House of Representatives would concur with the senate on the law.

According to Rep Eseme Eyiboh, “any bill must consider the sensibilities of the people. It must consider their values and cultures. The essence of the law is to be obeyed, and if the people don’t accept it, then it is a bad law.

“Some people in other countries have spoken against the Senate passage of the bill. The question is, what about the health of the victims of these homosexuals? How do they have sex? People are dying of hunger and diseases globally, why should homosexual issue be a priority that every nation must abide by.”

Recently, United States President Obama directed US federal agencies abroad to “ensure the country’s diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect human rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals. This directive climaxed into a week of controversy after the Nigerian senate outlawed homosexuality with a 14-year jail term.

Before the senate decision, there was a warning by Britain’s Prime Minister, David Cameron, that aids will be withdrawn from countries disregarding gay rights.

But Senate President, David Mark, has maintained the passage of the law is “irrevocable,” winning broad acclaim from the Nigerian public, a majority of which view homosexuality as a depraved western invention.

“It is unfair to tie whatever assistance or aid to Nigeria to the laws we make in the overall interest of our citizens, otherwise we are tempted to believe that such assistance comes with ulterior motives,” David Mark told the visiting German Ambassador to Nigeria, Dorothee Janetzke – Wenzel.

“If the assistance is aimed at mortgaging our future, values, custom and ways of life, then they should as well keep their assistance,” he added.