By Tiola
Never before has the pressure to bring Nigeria ‘on-side’ as regards same sex relationships been so intense. Several weeks back I was watching a report on one of these foreign news cables about how we were one of the countries that imposed the death penalty on people found to be indulging in same-sex relationships which of course, is a blatant lie, we all know that punishment is 14 years imprisonment.

If you ask me though that doesn’t curb the trend … if anything it only exacerbates the issue, but that’s a different debate for a different day.

Our Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru has at several different times told of the tremendous pressure our government was under to acknowledge gay rights and recognise same in our constitution, and I can’t help but wonder why there is such a concerted effort and frenzy to get us to join the bandwagon.

Perhaps being the most populous and arguably the most ‘religious’ black nation has everything to do with it.

Just a couple of weeks ago I found very amusing (in a good way) the Foreign Affair’s Minister’s very tongue in cheek manner of telling the ‘powers that be’ that as far as Nigeria and gay rights are concerned; they should take a hike. Like a true diplomat he turned the Western argument against them.

Imploring them not to impose on us a way of life that is alien to our culture and norms; adding that even if it was something we were going to consider down the line, they should give us time to evolve and come to that ‘level of understanding’; (seeing how ‘backward’ we are)…. Touché.

I was rather surprised therefore, to see an article titled “FOREIGN MINISTER DENIES ENDORSING GAY MARRIAGES”. It piqued my curiosity because this was an individual who over recent times had been very vocal and had publicly spoken against it. What could he have possibly said or done to be so misunderstood.

This is Nigeria, and regardless of your sexual proclivities, nobody, (okay maybe with the exception of Beverly in the BBA house) publicly commits that type of socio-political suicide.

On reading the body of the piece, it turns out that the Minister is allegedly endorsing same sex relationships and by extension ‘gay rights’ in Nigeria by accepting to accredit foreign diplomats who are gay, posted on a tour of duty to Nigeria…

I may not be able to lay claim to a wealth of intricate knowledge when it comes to international relations and diplomacy but I know enough to know that those bio-data forms are pretty basic and if the word ‘sex’ appears at all, it will be once and only as regards your gender and not how frequently one indulges in the act; (remember that old joke?) or ones sexual preference for that matter.

How is the Honourable Minister supposed to know who’s gay or not?! What’s he supposed to say while checking the individuals credentials… oh! by the way are you gay? Seriously?

While conversations in such circles might be so clandestine as to never see the light of day I doubt very much, that one’s sexual proclivities make for light diplomatic banter unless of course, the people involved are looking to hook up!

So what is this? Giving a dog a bad name in a bid to hang it or an intentional attempt to muddy the waters?