The Nation Newspaper

Tag: prevail

  • ‘Nigerians must prevail on legislature to override Buhari on Electoral Act’

    RIVERS State Governor Nyesom Wike has called on Nigerians to prevail on the National Assembly to override the President’s veto of the 2010 Electoral Act Amendment Bill to guarantee free, fair and credible electoral system.

    Addressing the 2018 Annual Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Section on Legal Practice Conference in Port Harcourt yesterday,  Wike urged lawyers to rise up and insist on the relevance of the amended Electoral Act 2010.

    He said: “We must all stand up against the devilish efforts by some anti-democratic forces to kill the ongoing process to amend the 2010 Electoral Act on the whimsical excuse that the order of elections proposed in the Amendment Bill contravenes the discretionary powers of INEC, which, in any case, has not complained of any mischief occasioned by the new order.

    “Let me remind us that a defining feature of the legal profession is the commitment to promote both the substantive rules and the processes of the law, as well as, to defend the democratic values of our society.”

    Wike said though the 2010 Electoral Act was enacted to promote credible elections, the All Progressives Congress (APC) working with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Police manipulated  the Act to rig the rerun elections in Rivers.

    He said following fraudulent  activities by INEC, APC  and the Police, the tribunal and Court of Appeal upheld results concocted by the Police for Rivers Rerun

    “We all saw how results sheets were duplicated with identical serial numbers and handed over to the police to entre fake results and returns in favour of the candidates of the APC in the said elections.

    “In spite of this law, we all saw how both the tribunal and the Court of Appeal anchored their verdicts on results that were generated and certified from the custody of the Nigerian Police, while the results from INEC, which conducted the elections, were branded irrelevant and accordingly rejected.

    “What all these mean is that a thousand Electoral Laws may amount to nothing for as long as the Federal Government, the INEC, the Police and other government agencies that may legally or illegally be brought into the election process, continue to disrespect the law and trample on our democratic rights to free and fair elections with impunity and without suffering any legal pains or punishment for their criminal conduct.”

    Wike urged the NBA  to reinvent and reposition itself in response to challenges in the theory and practice of law.

    The governor also said lawyers must rethink the way they practice to remain relevant and meet the needs of their clients and society.

    Opening the conference, Chief Justice Justice Walter Onoghen, represented by Justice AB Gumel, noted that the timing is right as it will allow the bench and bar to appraise issues of justice delivery.

    He urged judges to adhere to tenets of the law in their  judgments.

    President of Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN) said the association’s Section on Law Practice is a vehicle for deepening professional practice.

    Chairman of NBA Section on Legal Practice Mainnaya Essien (SAN) said recent ethical issues require an appraisal of practice and challenges.

     

    Highpoint of the conference was the presentation of a recognition plaque to Governor Wike by the NBA President for the outstanding contributions of the Rivers State Governor to the legal profession.

     

     

     

  • Governor Bello, let common-sense prevail

    Governor Bello, let common-sense prevail

    SIR; These past days, the internet and social media have been awash with news and pictures of the newly built mansion of Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State in his home town of Okene. Some news platforms have alleged that the expensive house is worth billions of naira, while others have described it as an architectural masterpiece of the century.

    The question I asked some of the governor’s critics is: when and how has it become a sin for a sitting governor to build a house? If a similar house was built by a performing governor, would it have attracted the kind of reaction, condemnation and bashing that the palatial mansion has received so far?

    It has since dawned on me that it isn’t really about the house, which some persons have described as a heaven on earth, but the timing, the funfair, extravagant ceremony and the unnecessary flaunting of the magnificent edifice by the governor’s praise singers and clueless appointees who go about posting and celebrating the mansion as if it is a sort of a dividend of democracy and a gift to the people of Kogi State.

    Common-sense demands that since the governor is doing little or nothing to ameliorate the sufferings of the masses of Kogi State, he would stop doing things that will further increase their pain and frustrations. Erecting a gigantic multi-million naira mansion and rubbing it on the faces of the hungry masses is tantamount to dancing on the graves of those who have lost their lives to accidents while travelling to participate in the more than one year screening exercise that the administration embarked upon with no tangible result to show for it. It insults the patience and sensibilities of the workers who have endured hunger and humiliation as a result of the hardship imposed on them by the Yahaya Bello administration.

    The families of those who have committed suicide as a result of the economic hardship in the state wouldn’t smile at the mansion whenever they walk past it. Aside the fact that many of the governor’s appointees have allegedly become so rich that they are also building mansions of their own in choice areas across the state and beyond. The only thing they seem to be good at is haul insults at constructive critics, using gutter and garage languages. It is said that a sensible leader selects the best of the best and empower them to deliver on set goals and objectives.

    Our dear governor, you were not wrong to have built a house of your own in your home town, but the timing was wrong and so was the funfair and publicity it attracted. It makes no iota of common-sense that while President Muhammadu Buhari was away in Kano State commissioning state-of-the-art hospitals, roads and factories that has the capacity to employ more than 5000 unemployed, you were commissioning your mansion amidst hungry and poor Kogites.

     

    • Hussain Obaro,

    Lokoja, Kogi State.

  • Senate, let common sense prevail

    SIR: It is insulting, debasing and embarrassing watching the 8th Senate throw away the pervading collective will and aspiration of Nigerians before it eventually went into recess penultimate week.

    The actions of the senators, distinguished as they claim, following their rejection of the bill seeking devolution of powers to the component units of the country, otherwise known as restructuring is nothing but an ill-wind, an asinine sledge taken too far.

    It directly goes to prove and present the current Senate as the type completely detached from the pulse, goals and aspiration of the people it claims to be representing, in a system powered and decked with delegated legislation.

    The decision to confine the clamor and agitation for the devolution of powers to the dustbin by the Upper Chambers smacks off ignorance,  poor or total  lack of representation by the elected  who are charged with the responsibility to champion our collective cause.

    But why would they be moved over the ‘the troubles with Nigeria’? Do they genuinely have any contract with the corporate entity called Nigeria? Or isn’t it obvious the love of the nation they bandy about is nothing but a charade to continue overseeing the sharing of its resources?

    There is indeed, a two different kind of citizens in this country – the elected oligarchy and their helpless followers who continue eating from the crumbs that fall from the tables of their supposed servant-leaders, who have turned themselves into a cabal of sort.

    The Senate should kindly and carefully explain to hard learners (myself inclusive) the rationale behind its rejection of devolution of powers and retention of the current unitary system of government as instituted by the military.

    They should in clear terms dissect for Nigerians why we must not retrace our steps and ditch retrogressive and divisive systems, currently heating-up the polity and building up tensions here and there.  They should succinctly tell us why the police should remain centralized in a system where terrorists masquerading as Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram are prowling the streets without fear, while destroying human lives, our farms and its produce.

    The Nigerian Senate should explain to Nigerians why the regions should not exercise full control of the resources domiciled in their environments, and then make paltry commitment to the centre when of course the current regime of monthly federal allocation has crippled the industrial strength of regions and ignited presidential wars here during elections.

    We want to know if the regional assemblies if so incorporated into the proposed restructuring will not perform better than the current legislature where even the people in whose stead democracy is built lack the powers to recall their erring delegates.

    Everything, I mean everything is wrong with the current Senate.  They are completely detached from the people they claim to represent. They are mindlessly and regrettably chasing after power and not service.

    They enjoy the ding-doing game they play with the executive more than service to their respective constituencies. They prefer summoning Hamid Ali, Nigerian custom’s boss for not wearing uniform than proper legislation aimed at upgrading infrastructure. They consider invitations to Prof.  Itse Sagay, Presidential adviser on anti-corruption war and Babatunde Fashola, Minister of works for scathing statements on the hallowed chambers than looking inwards towards ending the current recession. They prefer the Magu drama, the Dino conundrum than tackling the scourge of herdsmen, as well as combating and prosecuting the Boko Haram wars which has already done more harm to the image of our country than good.

    That is the crop of leadership we have under the present Senate as headed by Bukola Saraki.

     

    • Gwiyi Solomon,

     Enugu.

  • That reason may prevail

    There is presently some de-escalation of the separatist outrage that gripped this country in recent weeks, and we shouldn’t hold back saying much of the credit goes to the leadership initiative shown by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo. Whatever the perceived downsides of those consultations, his getting traditional rulers as well as opinion and political leaders to the dialogue table largely helped to tamp down the fury.

    It is not yet Uhuru, as they say – very far from it. But it at least seems the government now has a handle on mutually bandied ultimatums by youth groups in different geo-political zones across the country that had threatened to tip us all over the cliff edge. Spurred by those threats, the Acting President undertook serial stakeholder consultations that culminated in his meeting last week with the 36 state governors. The moderating effect of those consultations showed that the much required for managing combustible moods in our polity is a disposition by the leadership to being attentive and open for discussion. Hitting upon acceptable remedies to our nationhood challenges is a function of sustained national conversation in a convivial atmosphere, which the mutual threats had not served to foster.

    The Acting President’s push for dialogue did relieve the tension and expanded the pressured space for dueling emotions. But not that the stakeholder consultations were without red flags. For instance, the separatist Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), whose May 30th sit-at-home order in the South-east ostensibly formed the trigger point for a three-month quit notice to citizens of Igbo lineage residing in the North by self-professed Coalition of Northern Youths (CNY), faulted the region’s representation at the dialogue table and blustered that it would not be bound by whatever understanding was reached. Well, we must wait to see if it is able to continually retain the fancy of reasoning South-easterners under its nihilistic streak.

    Also, some analysts had argued that the youths’ outburst a few weeks back failed the smell test of underhand instigation by community elders and political leaders, some of who might have been among the Acting President’s invitees to the dialogue table. But that, if true, only made the consultations even more relevant, because they were like tackling the fire right at source.

    During his meeting with state governors last Wednesday, the Acting President recapped the broad points of the understanding reached at the parleys with community elders and opinion leaders of the South-east and as well the North. “We’re all agreed that Nigeria’s unity should never be taken for granted, and that no one wants to see Nigeria going down the path of bloodshed. We also agreed on the primacy of the Nigerian Constitution…The Constitution guarantees the equality of all Nigerians before the law, and their freedom to live and work anywhere in the country, in peace and safety, without fear of discrimination or prejudice,” he was reported saying.

    According to him, there was also agreement that hate speech must be reined in by leadership pressure points. And that, for avoidance of doubt, was without prejudice to constitutional guarantee of free speech, and the fact that there are genuine challenges fuelling separatist temperament in our nationhood that need to be redressed. “There is a part of all of these agitations and statements that are made that is fair and may well be considered as freedom of expression,” Professor Osinbajo said, adding: “But there is a point where a line has to be drawn, and that is when conversations or agitations degenerate into hateful rhetoric, where the narrative descends into pejorative name-calling, expressions of outright prejudice and hatred. We must at some point ensure that even in the use of words, we are careful especially because the kinds of problems that we’ve seen, the conflagration that we’ve seen all over the world, even in our own society, starts with the use of words.”

    It is curious that the Acting President, going by reportage, omitted some geo-polities like the South-west and South-south in his stakeholder consultations, perhaps because the tantrums that informed his initiative did not originate from, and neither were targeted at those zones. That, to my mind, minimised the thoroughness of the initiative, and as well degraded the opportunity to take on board all sides to the fault lines that bedevil the Nigerian nationhood. And that was so even as the current presidency buckles on taking up the report of the 2014 National Conference.

    But you can’t take away from the aptness of the basic points of consensus the Acting President outlined. Nigeria’s unity must by no means be taken for granted, but neither so the touted desirability of her dismemberment. Nigeria’s unity is organic, not given, and must be worked upon on an ongoing and incremental basis. The constituent nationalities certainly can’t agree on all the fine points of this nationhood; but we can at least agree to disagree, and from there work out those points of disagreement. It is all the more unacceptable that separatists among us deploy inciting rhetoric to push their imprudent cause. For instance, IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu is famed for having described Nigeria as a sheer cannibal zoo. But the toxicity of that remark only needs to be weighted against the experience of Rwandans in the 1994 genocide, where the majority Hutus were incited to a last push against minority Tutsis who were pejoratively dubbed ‘cockroaches.’

    And neither does the logic in the familiar argument for dismemberment stand up to exhaustive scrutiny. Advocates hastily deploy the example of the amicable parting of ways by Singapore and Malaysia in 1965 as a model. They often are silent, though, on the fact that the separation resulted from deep political and economic differences between the ruling parties of Singapore and Malaysia – and not wildcat civic agitations – which had created communal tensions. They also conveniently forget that the United States, which the world celebrates as a leading nation today, fought a four-year civil war (1861 to 1865) between secessionists of the Confederate States of America and nationalists under Abraham Lincoln who were loyal to the U.S. constitution to preserve their Union.

    The Nigerian nationhood of today is far from being equally beneficial to constituent nationalities, and neither is it even munificent to individual citizens. But we have a nationhood to work at, and on which we can hold our leaders to some account – no matter how minimally. It simply isn’t an option to seek a fractious break-up.

  • Dasuki: Fayose urges Sultan to prevail on Buhari

    Dasuki: Fayose urges Sultan to prevail on Buhari

    The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has advised  the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar,  to prevail on President Buhari  not to allow abuse of human rights under his administration.

    While receiving  the Sultan in his office, Fayose accused Buhari of presiding over an emerging dictatorship.

    He condemned the house arrest of a Sokoto prince and former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) which he (Fayose) described as a “flagrant abuse of the Constitution and the rule of law” by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

    The governor urged Sultan to prevail on President Buhari not to allow abuse of human rights under his administration, describing Dasuki’s house arrest as an example of injustice and human rights violation under the All Progressives Congress -led government.

    Dasuki is currently being probed over alleged mismanagement of N333 billion meant for the purchase of arms for the nation’s armed forces to contain the insurgency in the Northeast.

    The Sultan , however ,advised leaders in the country to discharge their duties with the fear of God, and work towards unity of people of different religious and political persuasions.

    The Sultan  who is also the  President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) was in Ekiti to witness the installation of the state Grand Imam, Sheikh Jamiu Kewulere Bello as the new President General of League of Imams and Alfas in Southwest, Edo and Delta States.

    Abubakar charged Fayose to continue to carry the people along in his leadership role and treat all ethnic nationalities and religious organizations as equal entities,  for the state and Nigeria to move to a higher pedestal  in all spheres.

    Sultan said: “As leaders, we owe it a duty to lead by example and with the fear of God. If you are a leader, it is left for you to work your way to hell or heaven. God believes strongly in leadership, that is

    why people must continue to support them rather than fighting them.

    “I want Governor Fayose to treat all the various nationalities and religions in  Ekiti as one. You must be just in handling their affairs. When there is injustice, no development can take place. When we are just, then there will be security in the society.

    “I know that governor Fayose is well loved by the people, but he must continue to work hard for people and most importantly God to love him more.”

    Fayose replied: “I take the opportunity of your visit to bare my mind on some national concerns, particularly as it affects the unlawful incarceration of the former NSA, Alhaji Sambo Dasuki.

    “President Buhari has proved me right by my claims before the election that Nigeria is in the making of a dictator if he is voted into power.

    “By choosing which orders of the court to be obeyed, the President has exhibited his great disdain and disrespect to the judiciary as an independent arm of government and hope of the common man.

    “The continuous siege on the residence of the former NSA against a court order is a clear manifestation of fundamental human rights abuse.

    “If the president flouts Court orders with impunity, judicial independence will be fatally compromised and Nigeria’s embryonic democracy is in great danger. With this act, the President has left nobody in doubt that Dasuki cannot get fair hearing.

    “We hereby call on the international community to support independent human rights observers who are out to monitor former NSA’s prosecution and trial. President Buhari must honour his vow to follow due process and the rule of law.”

     

  • Abia 2015: Let justice prevail

    At last, grapevine indications that some powerful forces in Abia have vowed to scuttle gubernatorial ambitions of some ‘endangered specie’ is gradually coming to reality. The timing is understandably strategic, and appreciating the enormity of the self-given task, laden with moral burden; lots of nocturnal scheming and thief-in-a-night calculations have been on the cards for several weeks.  Rebuttals of serial exposure of the behind-the-scene manipulations, to prosecute the agenda in a seemingly populist fashion, have been commonplace.

    Indeed, the most vexed issue in Abia political landscape today is the issue of the purported zoning, chorused by a negligible few of suborned wheel-dealers who prefer being kings in hell to servants in paradise. Of a truth, Abians are still at loss with the recent rubber-stamping of the purported zoning of the 2015 governorship position to Abia South Senatorial Zone. It is a typical case of ‘voice of Jacob, hands of Esau’. In fairness, there is nothing wrong with working out an acceptable power sharing framework to ensure stability and minimize acrimony in pursuit of power in any socio-political milieu. On the face value, it is appealing. But that is not the case with the newest grandstanding by those who are desperate to re-write history and transmogrify the cultural bond of Ukwa/Ngwa people.  It is indeed a conspiracy to distort our history. Right from the defunct East Central State, when Late Dr. Michael Okpara held sway as the Premier, Ukwa/Ngwa or the old Aba Division had shared a common destiny in terms of allocation of political offices and largesse. Even in the old  Imo State, Ukwa/Ngwa constituted a formidable and united bloc during electioneering and strategic calculations in socio-political balancing. In the present Abia State, they have been consistently made to serve as deputy governors in the persons of late Dr.  Chima  Nwafor, Enyinnaya Abaribe who is now a serving Senator, Hon. Eric Acho Nwakamma and presently, Col. Austin Ananaba (Rtd). Agitations for Abia governorship seat had been along the two recognized blocs of Old Bende and Old Aba Division or Ukwa/Ngwa. The contiguity of the area even makes Ugwunagbo/Obi Ngwa/Osisioma federal constituency to cut across the Abia Central and Abia South Senatorial  Districts. Besides, Isiala Ngwa has remained the head of Ngwa ancestry and exploiting political leanings and interests to put them by the side, when the issue of common interest of Ngwa people are discussed,  is tantamount to a traditional sacrilege. Again, the Abia Charter of Equity written before the creation of Abia State recognized power sharing along the two blocs of Old Bende and Old Aba or Ukwa/Ngwa. So, zoning the Abia gubernatorial post along senatorial zones is unacceptable. It is like a poisoned chalice with chauvinistic considerations. The psychological pressure and the intended moral burden to whip non-conformists to line is preposterous, and geared towards putting the hitherto loving brothers and sisters  at daggers-drawn, over who gets what.

    Except the likes of late Jaja Anucha Wachuku, Dr. Paul Ogwuma, Senator Adolphus Wabara and presently, Chief Emeka Nwogu, virtually all strategic and national positions  that came to Abia had been the exclusive preserve of Old Bende , and Ukwa/Ngwa did not begrudge them, knowing that one day, the most prized seat in the state will equitably get to them. Old Bende has produced iconic personalities whom their past positions are not factored in, in the present political equation yet it counted for them. At the dawn of new democracy in 1999, Ukwa/Ngwa still supported the emergence of their two sons as governors in the persons of  Orji Uzor Kalu and Chief T.A.Orji, and now that it is the turn of Ukwa/Ngwa, external forces have aligned with home quislings to balkanize a historically-united people. A look at the list of these Old Bende icons is instructive here: Late Gen. J.T.U. Aguiyi-Ironsi  – Former Head of State; Okpara – former Premier of Eastern Region; Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kalu(rtd) – former Military Administrator (MILAD) old Imo / Lagos States;  Gen. Ike Nwachukwu – former MILAD old Imo State/ Minister; Dr. J.O.J. Okezie- former Federal Commissioner of Health & Agriculture; Amadi Ikwechegh- former MILAD old Imo State.

    Others are, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe-  Ex- VP and MILAD Lagos/Niger states; Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu- former  Minister of Finance; Comrade Uche Chukwumerije – former Secretary of Information; Dr. Ihechukwu Madubuike – former Ministers of Health/Education; Prince Vincent Ogbulafor- Former Minister, Presidency and PDP chairman; Ojo Madueke- former minister of Transport and Foreign Affairs; Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala – Minister of Finance, and Chief Onyema Ugochukwu -pioneer chairman of NDDC.

    Without equivocation, if this  zoning is pursued with the exclusion of Umunneato brothers, it will pose a big threat to Ukwa/Ngwa solidarity.

    The inescapable truth is that the senseless phobia for Ukwa/Ngwa people is being exploited by their enemies to instigate  irreconcilable acrimony among a people whose legendary unity of purpose in pursuing a common agenda usually sends shivers down the spine of their oppressors in the other divide. And one of the most unifying factors among Ukwa/ Ngwa people is the deprivation of the plum position of governor from them for years. Though there have been efforts to actualize the dream, like in 2003 when ‘Otu Onu’ mantra, meaning a Single Term; pervaded the landscape like a battle cry to assuage the ill- feelings and marginalization in Abia politics, yet it has not materialized. Now that the chicken is gradually coming home to roost,  vested interests are out to destroy Ukwa/Ngwa so that the spoils of victory would be ashes in their mouths; while the sponsors of internal implosion will retire to their home stead  to pop champagne, thinking that the Pyrrhic victory would save them in the day of reckoning.  Ukwa /Ngwa people should know that “when the vanes are removed from an arrow, even though the shaft and the tip remain, it is difficult for the arrow to penetrate deeply”.

    One of the critical measures to ensure the survival of Ukwa/Ngwa, now and in future, is to guard jealously the opportunity which the present circumstance presents, with their legacy of commonality and brotherliness. Relying on the pittances from the front row operators and bandwagons without  dispassionately subjecting the far-flung implications of today’s actions would mar the gains of Ukwa/Ngwa affinity built from the time immemorial.

    This is a trick to put us asunder to enable them install a stooge.  Ukwa/Ngwa people should view the unfolding events as they are, not as their emotions colour them. Passivity and indifference at this time is very costly. Some erroneously think that one or a few aspirants are the ready targets of the purported zoning, but underlying the agenda is to subtly discredit Ukwa/Ngwa with our orchestrated internal squabbles, as an alibi. In a game with loaded dice, a player must have a temper of iron, with armour proof to the blows of fate, and weapons to make his way against men. According to Ralph Emerson, “Nature  has made up her mind that what cannot defend itself shall not be defended”. Already, there strong aspirants on the wings, waiting to harness the timely opportunity if it slips away from our hands. Men of goodwill from Ukwa/Ngwa and indeed Abians should look eyeball to eyeball to those calling the shots, to avert murdering the truth. It has cataclysmic consequences. The argument that Isiala Ngwa, Isiala Ngwa South and Osisoma LGAs should not contest the Abia 2015 Governorship based on the purported zoning to Abia South is unsustainable. It is rooted on a defeatist platform and a ploy that would shock the today’s promoters when the real intentions are unravelled. By then, handshake would have gone beyond the elbow (apologies to Chinua Achebe). It would be too late to start a face-saving battle, when the cause or the rallying point has been guillotined by short-sighted and divisive interests.  A stitch in our decision today, may save nine!

     

    • Hilary writes from Umuahia, Abia State

  • Let commonsense prevail on anti-gay law

    SIR: The controversy surrounding the anti-gay bill recently signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan has continued unabated. It even gets more exciting seeing several foreign friends of the country voicing strongly their concerns on such an ‘obnoxious law’ which they argue threatens the ‘human right’ of some minority to freely associate..

    I am perturbed by the fact that the anti-gay law has come to divide a nation like ours with a rich sense of history, tradition, culture and values, with a part of the divide looking at the issue from the vexed standpoint of human right and its effect on a minority created from the imagination of its rabid supporters. I am even further irked by the fact that few characters among us are steadily losing grip of our African roots and consciousness that we now see the impunity inherent in being gay as the right thing for certain groups of people. The question I have failed to find ample answers to is how we as humans who claim to be higher animals have reduced ourselves to inane beasts with little or no sense of how we must relate intimately with ourselves.

    I am in a confused state as to what opponents of the anti-gay law term as human right. Human right no doubt is one of nature’s blessings to mankind and must at all times be upheld but the conception it carries in modern times was only couched by the West to suit their own ‘cultural vices’ with no consideration for the values and norms of others. Certainly, gays and lesbians cannot procreate and therefore, they are the first breakers of the natural law of procreation, especially the law of human right which they so much hinge on in contemporary times. To think that gays have a human right they can fight for, one which they wish to use to confound the sensibilities of right thinking people with moral values is the highest form of insanity.

    Being gay is a matter of choice while the law that regulates it is also a matter of exigency. As an advocate of common sense and reason, there is no way such act can be accepted in a highly cultural and religious enclave like Nigeria. It is unacceptable, against our values and moral consciousness. Interestingly, unlike what the West and other proponents of same sex union have argued, the law, is backed by more than 90 per cent of Nigerians. What could be more democratic than that? If the likes of the United Nations General Secretary, Ban Ki Moon, the United States, Britain, Canada and few others against the bill believe the 14 year sentence is too harsh, obnoxious and against human rights, does it mean the voice of the people which guided the signing of the bill into law is irrelevant?

    Is the voice of the people not the major canon of any democratic process?

    Same sex union may have been accepted and its art perfected through laws in the West yet in this part of our own world, we see it as an insult to our collective sensibilities where some foreign states and groups of people think they can force it down our throats. The Nigerian people have spoken and it is time to act to remove this unpleasant cankerworm out of our society.

    • Raheem Oluwafunminiyi

    Lagos

     

  • Tambuwal: Nigerians’ will prevail

    The leadership of the House of Representatives has said the wishes of Nigerians will prevail on the amendments to the 1999 Constitution.

    The voting on the amendments slated for today will be beamed live on television.

    Voting will be done electronically will be adopted.

    Speaker Aminu Tambuwal said the House must not ditch the verdict of their constituents.

    In a statement yesterday by its spokesman, Zakari Mohammed, the House said: “The electronic option will be adopted. The voting, the Leadership of the House insisted, must reflect the exact opinion of their constituents as contained in the results of the recently concluded peoples public sessions.

    “The process will be conducted live on state television.”