Gay Marriage: Don’t Succumb To External Pressure, CAN President Tells Jonathan

Naija news.

23.07.2013, 11:14  Local

The president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, has reminded President Goodluck Jonathan to immediately sign the bill against same sex marriage into law as soon as possible.

The CAN president, who spoke to some selected journalists, said Nigeria must never succumb to the world, adding that "Nigeria cannot be a place for such things."

According to Oritsejafor, "President Jonathan must understand that he was voted by Nigerians. When you are voted into a position, you are voted to do the bidding of the people who voted for you. So he must not allow Obama or the British Prime minister to put pressure on him to bend to what they want.

"If they want men to be marrying men and adopting children, that is their society, not Nigeria. Nigeria is a country that has said no to same sex marriage."

"We are battling with enough problems; let us not complicate things for ourselves. Same sex marriage is not for this part of the world; we should not even discuss it," said the CAN president.

Perturbed by the high level of criticism against him, the CAN president said that his desire to confront various challenges facing the Christian community has made him the most misunderstood persons in Nigeria.

"The major challenge was to try to reposition the church in Nigeria to make sure that it is at par with other religions in this country, because what I saw was a situation where Christians were like second-class citizens in a country that has probably more than half of it as Christians."

Meanwhile, the minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Olugbenga Ashiru, has said that Nigeria will accredit foreign diplomats married to people of the same sex in spite of the country's stand on the issue.

Ashiru made the position known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in London yesterday.

He said that ambassadors posted to Nigeria would be accredited to serve in the country with their spouses "no matter their marriage status.

"Nigeria is not against any country for legalising gay marriage but in our country, given our customs and traditions, as well as religious beliefs, marriage as ordained by God is between a man and a woman.

"But if we have diplomats with same sex spouses posted to Nigeria, we have no choice but to accredit them accordingly because they come from countries where such law is in place," Ashiru said.

He, however, said that there were no such cases in the country at the moment.

The National Assembly has passed a bill banning same sex marriage in Nigeria and prescribing a jail term of between 10 and 14 years for anyone who indulges in the act or abets it.

Nigeria's position has drawn the ire of mainly Western countries.

Also, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has called on all right thinking Nigerians to challenge the Senate's action on the legitimization of child marriage.

NANS, while passing a vote of no confidence on the Senate leadership, also called for immediate prosecution of Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima at the International Court of Justice, Hague, for alleged child abuse, having married a 13-year- old Egyptian girl.

Majority of the members of the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly had last week voted in favour of the child marriage during the ongoing debate on constitution amendment, eliciting condemnation in the country and other parts of the world.

According to a statement by the NANS chairman, Ekiti axis, Comrade

Oluwadamilare Bewaji, in Ado-Ekiti yesterday, the student body described as sad and retrogressive the annulment of constitutionally recognized age for adulthood by the Senate, saying this would further debase womanhood in Nigeria.

The statement read in part, "We hereby pass a vote of no confidence in the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly over this 'unprogressive' action and dishonour they had brought to our culture.

"How can the Senate of the most populous nation in Africa debate and pass such action? We want to say that children under age 18 and below must be constitutionally protected and accommodated in our constitution."