By Ben Efe

The Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill, sponsored by Senator Abiodun Olujimi, had the potentials to legitimise abortion, if passed into law by the National Assembly, a  group, Foundation for Africa Cultural Heritage and the Civil Society of Nigeria, has claimed.

The Bill was sponsored  by Olujimi, representing Ekiti South, but it was thrown out for lack of merit on March 14. However, the Bill, according to FACH and the CSOs,  is still been dressed up for reintroduction to the Senate. It is also incompatible with the language of the Convention on the Right of the Child CRC (1989) and in particular the language of African values, and in particular with the language of African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (1981) which upholds the human rights of both the child and the mother,”the group said.

It argued that the Bill is not aimed at promoting equality between men and women, promoting economical, political and cultural empowerment of women, but to incorporate and enforce in Nigeria the provisions of the Africa Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women 2003 otherwise known as the Maputo Protocol.

“The Bill has no respect for the religious and philosophical convictions of the Nigerian people. Clearly sections 3(b) (c), 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 14, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24 should be expunged from the Bill. Section 7 promotes gay practices and gay marriage in Nigeria in violation of Same Sex (Marriage) Prohibition Act 2014.

“Sections 12 (c) and 17 (e) of the Bill seek to legalize abortion in Nigeria contrary to the Nigerian laws and the religious, cultural and philosophical convictions of the Nigerian people,”it added.