Nigeria was arguably a country, whose citizens held strongly to issues of moral chastity coordinated by religious institutions. Most Nigerians dreaded embarrassment, and any act that can bring indignation to their families then. Nigerians were scared of soiling their family names.

Today, the case is different, as Nigerians are topping the charts in all forms of ignominy, ranging from advance fee fraud (419), armed robbery, financial crimes by public office holders, kidnapping and bombing of private and public places. A survey recently listed Nigerian women as the most unfaithful in the world. Alas! We have ascended with all talents, from moral endowment to bankruptcy in morality.

Today, same sex issue has grown from its silent days of ‘Dan Daudu,’ where those attributed to same sex preference deny same with all their might, to an era when it has metamorphosed into an issue of right that must be protected. Today, human rights organisations are out to even offer protection to those who are practising same sex relationship or marriage.

Now that the issue is transcending the social lacuna of people having carnal knowledge within same sex, the matter seems to push into heretic preaching, where so-called men of God claim it is okay to be gay. They quote portions of the Bible to support their claims. While proponents of same sex are protesting issues of right abuse by the Nigeria legal institution, what then will priests attribute their preaching on the acceptability of gay behaviour centre their arguements on? The entire plot is becoming scary now that it is taking a religious dimension, as very soon, intra-religious intolerance will soon brew in Nigeria if something is not done to address the issue for the good of all.

As the saying goes, one’s rights ends where the other person’s begins. Now, gay adherents are begining to establish churches across the country, Nigerian youths are vulnerable to new doctrines. Parents who are sanctimoniously strict to the traditional Christian norms will definitely seek to protect the rights of their children.

Very soon, Christian religious extremist groups will sprout up to save their religious values by denouncing gay-oriented churches as illegal centres akin to Sodom and Gomorrah. The gay advocates will also seek to protect their own interests. The chase in a vicious circle of grand standing will spill out of control and possibly give birth to another theatre of religiously-motivated violence in Nigeria, only this time within same faith.

Homosexual relationships cut across cultures, as no country can claim originality of this form of relationship. Recorded history from the dark ages, middle ages to our present civilisation show that people have always engaged in same sex relationships. In Nigeria, dotting everywhere are people, who have been into relationships with their own sex. The difference between now and then is the fact that such relationships were shrouded in secrecy.

In cultures influenced by Abrahamic religions, the law and the church established sodomy as a transgression against divine law or a crime against nature. The condemnation of anal sex between males, however, predates Christian belief. It was frequent in ancient Greece which was then described as "unnatural" by Plato. From the perspective of the Qur’an, same sex relationships is also condemned in no small way.

Same sex relationships were, however, a social institution variously constructed over time and from one city to another. The formal practice, an erotic, yet often restrained relationship between a free adult male and a free adolescent, was at a time in history viewed as a means of population control.

While I do not intend to cast value at the mental status of homosexuals, I intend to x-ray the implications of a constitutionally sanctioned gay world. Let us take it for granted that they are okay mentally and are only expressing their sexual preference bestowed on them by nature, are we, therefore, ready to make adjustments on some legal variables that must accompany the adoption of same sex culture?

Only recently, a banker posted to serve in Minna got himself trapped in the ‘lair’ of a gay. He was sexually assaulted by a fellow male colleague, who offered him temporal accommodation, while he was still in search of a place. Now, what law will be appropriate to try such sex offenders, as they are only interested in championing a cause for the world to recognize their sexual preference?

Other legal implications include scenarios, where a gay ‘couple’ visits Nigeria, a country against same sex marriage. What will be the legal implications against such persons? Is there going to be any form of international incident taken for granted that the couple or one of them is not a Nigerian? Rhetorics and semantics one may conclude, but from a rational perspective, the same gender marriage issue is gaining steam that may boil towards a disastrous end.

Now that the UK and US are in support of gay relationships in Nigeria, there seem to be no going back as the die is cast for mutually- assured destruction, which may in the nearest future take a religious dimension.

•Ebije, the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) Media, Niger State wrote in from the Government House, Minna.