₦airaland Forum

chaloner: somehow true... in Obosi Anambra state they only take light from 7pm to 10pm , mean OBOSI do have light for 21 hours each day. FRESH AIR EVERYWHERE

donem: Hmm! Could this be true? Phoning eastern 9ja to verify the credibility of this claim.

THE federal government has responded with near adequate conviction, the pressure by Western countries to impose the perverted culture of legalising homosexual lifestyles in Nigeria.

The two arms of the National Assembly have taken uncompromising stands, making a law prescribing a fourteen-year jail term for people caught, tried and sentenced for practising homosexual acts in Nigeria. Our President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, has also made it clear that he would align with the feelings of the Nigerian people and its supreme legislature in ensuring that the law is implemented.

We are, however, worried at the half-heartedness with which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is handling the matter. The Minister, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru, while recently re-iterating Nigeria’s decision not to succumb to pressures from the West on this vexatious issue, however opened some windows of possibility and prospects for homosexuality in Nigeria.

First, he begged the West to be patient with Nigeria and allow this lifestyle to take root here and be accepted by the Nigerian people before it would be given a free rein. Second, he conceded that Nigeria would accept gay diplomats to serve in this country.

Our rejection of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) nonsense is total and unequivocal. It is rooted in our cultural, religious and social values as a people. It is taboo, abominable and repulsive. Therefore, we cannot afford to allow the moral fabric of our society to be so degraded by foreign cultures and pressures as to allow these evil acts to become acceptable here some time in the future.

We must also not allow countries that have accepted them to export their gay citizens to Nigeria and use their diplomatic cover to practise it here.

Since our people have chosen to shun gay lifestyle here, we must be uncompromising about it because the reasons adduced are cogent. Homosexualism is a virus that degrades the family and its values, corrupts human cohabitation and offends God. It eventually leads to social decline.

We are a country on the rise to our manifest destiny as Africa’s example to the world. We must get there with our values intact as every great society attempts to do.

The West will never allow a person who is a confirmed paedophile, for example, to work in their country even as a diplomat. If the West cannot be allowed to send such perverts to Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran, why should they be allowed here?

We say no to gay diplomats in Nigeria. Part of the screening we must conduct before accrediting diplomats to represent their countries here should include checking their sexuality record. We say no, and we mean no!

mekaboy: From your comment, you deserve to be in a cave where there is no civilization, because it is clear u don't know what democracy is about. Emeka offor should charge the man to court to prove that what the man said is falls. Police shld not have detained him pass 48hrs. The same lawmakers break the laws, the law enforcement agency break the laws. We live in a lawless country and its risky. That is why there is nothing to show for the billions we spend on security.

Kezifils: And Buhari gets away with all the s h i t he has said. What a country we fine ourselves in.

Cultured: That serves the fictitious " Mr. Bonny " right and I can bet that same fate awaits many of you in this forum and other online forums - all of you who derive pleasure in soiling the names of successful people , character defamation is a big crime anywhere , so folks better desist from such atrocity , if you have genuine allegation against anyone, the law court is the best place to try and convict someone ... enough of this "pull him down" syndrome everywhere. Someone who lives in a class house should not throw stones. Enough is enough !

HumbledbYGrace: I hate the girls mutilation, that girl is still young. You forgot to add the boys circumcision

Bsmartt: what should we call this? may God help us all ameen.

otokx: Someone should command the Prof Nebo to give us light in UNIPORT and ALUU. We pay our bills.

pumpingmachine: These are toys, not robots

Kamanda: Jonathan should be impeached and prosecuted for all his crimes including-

Malabu Scam

Fuel Subsidy Fraud

Independence Day Bombing and other such bombings

Funding the political Boko Haram

Genocide in Northern Nigeria(Hague Tins)

Looting Bayelsa state

PEJ Money Laundary cover up.

Assasination of General Azazi

Rivers state crisis

Etc. Etc. Etc

Senator ENYI ABARIBE is Chairman, Senate Committe on Information, Media and Public Affairs.
THE Senate last week voted on the report of its Constitution Review Committee and at the end of it all, it once again achieved a milestone in altering the 1999 Constitution to bring the document in line with the general aspirations of the Nigerian people.

However, while the Senate appreciates and welcomes the healthy debate that ensued within the public on some aspects of the sections that were voted on, which it sees as a veritable feedback that signals the public acceptance and overwhelming followership of the happenings in the hallowed chambers, it is nonetheless bothered by negative commentaries which suggest a deliberate misinformation and distortion of what actually transpired on the floor when the distinguished senators voted on the each section of the report by its constitution amendment committee.

For the avoidance of doubt, at no time did the senators vote, neither did they ever deliberate on any clause that has to do with marriage age. They also did not vote to introduce any new law on underage marriage. The senators only voted to amend some clauses in the articles that were already in the Constitution.

It is pertinent for the public to know that the section up for amendment had to do with persons qualified to renounce Nigerian citizenship.

The 1999 Constitution as amended in Section 29 (which has suddenly become a hot issue for both informed and uninformed interpretation in the press and social media), states in section 1 S29(1): “Any citizen of Nigeria of full age who wishes to renounce his Nigerian citizenship shall make a declaration in the prescribed manner for the renunciation”.

S29(4): “For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section, (a) ‘full age’ means the age of eighteen years and above;

(b) ‘any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age’.

The prevailing view of the committee before the initial vote was that Section 29(4)(a) was gender neutral but with section 29(4)(b) specifically mentioning “woman” , it now looked discriminatory and as such is in conflict with section 42 of the Constitution which prohibits discrimination of any form. The committee thus sought for it to be expunged from the Constitution.

Senators, therefore, voted earlier to expunge that sub-section and it scaled through by 75 votes. Note that under the Constitution, to amend any clause you will need 2/3 of the members of the Senate which translates to 73 votes.

However, the revisiting of the voting on that section was to take care of objections raised by Distinguished Senator Ahmad Sani Yerima, among others. He pointed out that removing the clause 29(4)(b) contradicts section 61 of the second schedule of the Constitution which restricts the National Assembly from considering matters relating to Islamic and Customary law.

Revisiting the section was pure and simple a pragmatic approach. It had to be so, considering that the Senate as the representative of the people represents all interests and all shades of opinion.

Therefore, a fresh vote was called and even though those who wanted that section expunged were more in number, they failed to muster the needed votes to get it through. What it meant was that majority of senators voted to remove it but they were short of the 2/3 majority or (73) required to alter an article of the Constitution.

Had voting in constitutional amendment not been based on the mandatory two-third or (73) votes of senators at the seating, perhaps the issue would have been rested by now, but be that as it may the outcome of the voting remains the position of the Senate. S29(4)(b) still remains part of the Constitution.

What is important is for the issue to be put in its proper perspective.

This clarification has become necessary because of the willful and deliberate act to distort and misinform the general public on what was neither discussed nor contemplated by the distinguished senators.

At no time was marriage as a section of the Constitution discussed or voted for. The National Assembly in 2003 had passed “The Child Rights Act” which specifically took care of the fears being expressed in a cross section of the media. The Act clearly states in section 21: “No person under the age of 18 years is capable of contracting a valid marriage, and accordingly, any marriage so contracted is null and void and of no effect whatsoever”.

22. 1. “No parent, guardian or any other person shall betroth a child to any person”

2. A betrothal in contravection of subsection (1) of this section is null and void.

Therefore, under the Childs Right Act the lawful age of marriage is 18years.

The Constitution does not provide for many rules of human engagement such as marriage and only makes provision for specialised laws to take care of such matters. That is why the National Assembly now made a specialised legislation to address the matter of lawful age for marriage as seen above.

In fact, section 23 of the Childs Right Act provides stiff penalties:

A person (a) who marries a child; or

(b) to whom a child is betrothed ; or

(c) who promotes the marriage of a child; or

(d) who betroths a child commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of N500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira) or imprisonment for a term of five years or to both such fine and imprisonment.

It was the Senate of this Federal Republic that made this law which is still operative in some states. The snag in any case is that the Child Right Act does not automatically apply across the country. It has to be domesticated on state by state basis by the respective Houses of Assembly. Up to date 12 states are yet to domesticate or adopt the law. It is with respect to those states that the advocacy on age of marriage should be directed since it was the National Assembly that passed the law in the first place.

The essence of this further clarification is to remind all that the Senate in its wisdom passed that law, which has become operative in most states with the exception of the remaining 12.

The Senate has done its best with utmost concern for national interest and its leadership has ably navigated its affairs with high level of integrity, sense of responsibility and fairness to all Nigerians.

It would have made a whole lot of sense had the various commentators displayed the capacity to reason and do due diligence to the issue before rushing to conclude that the Senate did what was not even before it.

Senator ENYI ABARIBE is Chairman, Senate Committe on Information, Media and Public Affairs.

AKURE —THE Police in Ondo State have arrested a 47-year-old bricklayer, Damilare Olotu, for allegedly poisoning his wife, Mary, for being barren.

The 45-year-old Mary who hailed from Kwara State was a trader and had been having running battle with the suspect over her inability to conceive.

Reports had it that following the condition of the deceased the suspect married a second wife, Kemi, from Igbara Oke area of the state who bore him two children.

The suspect who is from Akure used to live with the deceased in Ibuji, Ifedore council area of the state.

It was alleged that the second wife reportedly insisted on packing into the suspect’s house but the deceased resisted.

The junior brother to the deceased, Mr. Lawrence Omotosho, told newsmen that the suspect and the second wife connived to poison his sister.

According to him, the sister had told him that the suspect had threatened to kill her. Omotosho asked the police to investigate the matter thoroughly and bring the culprit to book.

Also the only child of the deceased from her former marriage, Shola Olatunji who is an undergraduate in Kogi State said the family of her late mother warned her not to re-marry but she refused.

Contacted, the police image maker, Wole Ogodo, said investigation into Mary’s death ws on-going, noting that the case has been transfered from Igbara Oke to the headquarters in Akure for further investigation.

Meanwhile, the corpse of the deceased has been deposited in mortuary for autopsy.