A fresh attempt by the United States to get Nigeria to become more liberal towards gays and same sex marriages has been rebuffed by President Muhammadu Buhari who insisted that sodomy is against the law of Nigeria and abhorrent to our culture.
The spokesperson of the president, Femi Adesina admitted that the issue of gay marriage was discussed during Buhari’s meeting with Americans officials in Washington, but he rejected the offer.
“The issue of gay marriage came up here yesterday. PMB was point blank. Sodomy is against the law in Nigeria, and abhorrent to our culture,” he posted on his Twitter handle Wednesday. The spokesman was, however, silent on whether President Barrack Obama had personally raised the issue when both men met at the White House on Monday.
Western countries have been trying hard to get African states to tow their liberal line in their attitudes towards gays with very little success.
While the US Supreme Court recently ruled that it was unconstitutional to prevent same sex marriages, most African states have stern laws against such marriages.
Only last year the National Assembly passed a bill not only banning the act, but also prescribing a 14-year prison penalty for anyone caught flouting it. The bill was promptly signed into law by former President Goodluck Jonathan despite attempts by the West to get him not to.
On Tuesday speaking ahead of President Barrack Obama’s visit to Kenya, President Uhuru Kenyatta made it crystal clear that possible gay talks between both of them was a ‘non-issue’.
“It’s a non-issue to the people of this country and it’s definitely not on our agenda at all,” Kenyatta said.
“We as a country, as a continent, are faced with much more serious issues which we would want to engage the US and all our partners with.”
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