The Senator representing Edo state at the National Assembly, Domingo Obende has said that gay culture has no value and as such should not be allowed to spread in Africa. He made the declaration during an interview with SaharaTV on Saturday. Obende, who sponsored the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act recently signed by President Goodluck Jonathan expressed his elation at the signing of the bill.
The Senator representing Edo state at the National Assembly, Domingo Obende has said that gay culture has no value and as such should not be allowed to spread in Africa. He made the declaration during an interview with SaharaTV on Saturday. Obende, who sponsored the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act recently signed by President Goodluck Jonathan expressed his elation at the signing of the bill.
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“We do not think they [gays] are a minority that will bring purpose to any nation,” Obende said to SaharaTV's Rudolf Okonkwo, adding “There is no value in that culture.”
Senator Obende’s primary reasoning behind this claim stemmed from the fact that he believes homosexuality brings no advantage to Nigerian society, both culturally and pro-creatively.
Enmeshed in this cultural argument, Obende also furthered that gay culture was religiously unacceptable, a clear contradiction to Islamic and Christian teaching and ideology. “Marriages for both men or for both women cannot be accepted,” he said. “In the creation of the world God created man and woman to come together to become one.”
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Obende implored critics of the bill, especially those who cite that the act attempts to cast homosexuality as an un-African behavior, should be cognizant that Nigeria is an independent nation, which should be able to make laws to curb “foreign” and “devilish” behaviors although they are more embraced in the Western world. “I created this bill because I thought that there is need to control this immoral behavior that is been passed to us from foreign countries,” he claimed.
“The culture of Africa is what makes Africa unique. Why is the Western world crying?” Obende pressed. “We are not giving judgment to gay practitioners. We are saying here in Africa we don’t want this.”
Addressing concerns about vigilante violence like that taking place in Northern regions since the bill’s officiating, Obende hopes that proper decorum will be followed in the upholding of the act. “These are cases you must not judge in a hurry,” he urges law enforcement, “there must be proof, there will be civility in the course of justice in this law,” he stated, though with some uncertainty.
Obende also was uncertain regarding the timing of the measure, whether the signing was a political power-play put in place by President Jonathan to garner the public’s regard as 2015 looms in the not-so-distant future. Recall that Nigeria has already had stiff laws in place against sodomy, and that no gay Nigerians have come forward to pursue same-sex marriages.
“It could possibly be a political thing,” Obende, who is a member of the APC party, disclosed.
Ultimately, Obende encourages Nigerians (and the West) to accept the decision, and embrace it as a facet of African tradition.
“We are Africans, that’s what makes us unique,” he said.
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