• Says no provision requires Nigeria to accept, recognise LGBTQ rights
• Lawmakers shout down Majority Leader for attempting to clarify issue
• Enang asks National Assembly to sue FG
• Yoruba Ronu cautions government
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), yesterday, sought to dispel controversies trailing the country’s signing of the Samoa Agreement. However, not everyone was convinced as the House of Representatives called for suspension of the loan deal.
NBA president, Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, said: “Contrary to the narrative being propagated either due to ignorance of the content of the agreement or, a deliberate intention to mislead the public (neither of which is good), I wish to state that there is no provision in the Samoa agreement, which requires Nigeria to accept or in any way recognise LGBTQ or gay rights, either as a pre-condition for a loan of $150 billion or at all.”
Maikyau explained that prior to the signing of the agreement, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning had requested the NBA, as a major stakeholder in the polity, to look at the deal.
Consequently, he had constituted a committee chaired by Mr Olawale Fapohunda, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Ekiti State and also Chairman of the NBA Law Reform Committee. The latter’s mandate was to vet, evaluate and advise on the agreement.
In a statement, the NBA president maintained that the agreement was expressly made subject to the local laws and the sovereignty of the contracting nations.
“That is to say, the Samoa agreement recognises, for instance, Nigeria’s Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act, 2023 and of course, the Supremacy of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
“If this were not the case, the NBA would have since advised the Federal Government not to enter or engage in any form of partnership or agreement that has the ability to undermine the sovereignty of our nation in any way. For the avoidance of any doubt, the SAMOA agreement does not, in any way, seek to compromise our existing legislations or undermine the sovereignty of Nigeria.”
Maikyau said it was important for all stakeholders, who have had the opportunity of engaging with government on the agreement prior to its execution, and others who have read and understood the objective of the agreement to endeavour to educate the public on its true content.
He noted that negative narratives on the agreement were being pushed and propagated along very sensitive lines of faith, culture and morality, hence the need for caution and proper education.
The NBA president, therefore, called on the government “to continue with the public enlightenment already being undertaken and for other stakeholders to join in doing so, in order to counter the negative perception being promoted on the agreement.
“The public must, at all times, query newspaper and social media posts. Information in newspapers and social media platforms should at the very best put us on an inquiry – check facts to determine the veracity of information. August Ludwig von Schlözer (1735–1809), the German historian, journalist and publicist once wrote: ‘Foolish is the man who never reads a newspaper; even more foolish is the man who believes what he reads just because it is in the newspaper.’ If this was written in today’s social networking culture, the reference to newspapers would have been the social media platforms. Let us beware!”
Maikyau reiterated NBA’s commitment “to ensure that actions of government are people-focused and, to the extent of information available to us, we shall see to it that nothing is done to compromise the integrity of our sovereign nation, Nigeria. The NBA will continue to engage with the government, advise, provide direction, advance the cause of the nation and at the same time, hold the government to account on behalf of the people of this country.”
But the House of Representatives ordered the immediate suspension of the deal. The decision followed the adoption of a motion under matters of urgent national importance sponsored by Ali Madaki at the plenary chaired by Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu.
Madaki (NNPP, Kano) contended that the agreement signed by the federal government runs contrary to the cultures and religions of Nigeria, and constitutes a breach of the country’s sovereignty.
He was supported by his colleague from Kano, Ghali Tijani Mustapha, who remarked that such an agreement remains unacceptable, since it negates the culture and religious tenets of Nigerians.
The Chief Whip, Usman Kumo, also kicked vehemently against the agreement. House Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda, wondered why the federal government would be part of an agreement leading to the borrowing of $150 billion without the input of the national Assembly.
The Rivers-state born lawmaker argued that the controversy surrounding the Samoa agreement would have been needless if the National Assembly had been in the know of the deal from the start.
Effort by Majority Leader, Julius Ihonvbere, to convince the House that an LGBTQ clause was not part of the agreement met a brick wall as he was shouted down by lawmakers mainly from the northern part of the country who vehemently opposed the deal.
A former member of the Senate, Ita Enang, took opposition to the agreement further, urging the National Assembly to file a lawsuit against the federal government.
Reacting on Political Paradigm, a programme on Channels TV, Enang said an agreement pursuant to a treaty must be made to pass through the National Assembly before being signed by the government. He alleged that since 2002, the federal government had not been carrying the National Assembly along.
“Even if it is an agreement pursuant to a treaty, so long as the interest of Nigeria is involved, it has to be laid before the National Assembly. I’m urging the National Assembly to take this matter to court,” Enang said.
Enang, who was Senior Special Assistant on Legislative Duties to former President Muhammadu Buhari, added: “The National Assembly or the Attorney General of the Federation, just like they have done in certain cases, like the local government, should go to court to interpret whether treaties ought to be laid before the National Assembly before they can become a law and if not, what is the legal status of the treaties, conventions and protocols which Nigeria has entered into, even the ones that grant loans? If it is not lawful, then it is at the risk of countries or institutions which have granted Nigeria money.”
THIS was as a southwest socio-political group, Yoruba Ronu Leadership Forum, backed the position taken by a leading publication in Nigeria against the loan agreement.
The President, Akin Malaolu, said: “Our leadership forum has been following the recent hoopla and particularly, the one raised by the Federal Government over the content of the Samoa deal it signed to get some loans for development in Nigeria. We have read the reply made by the accused media, and as a stakeholder in the country, we believe that the paper has not overstepped on this grave matter in any way.
“The Samoa deal is a $150 billion facility between participants; and with a clause in the agreement to allow LGBTQ rights. The argument is that there is an existing legislation against LGBTQ. But the truth is that by signing the agreement, Nigeria has indicated interest in moving towards promoting the rights of LGBTQ and amending the laws against it, but only if the government desired so or circumvented the legislation.”
The Forum added: “We shall begin to see man to man relationships openly, rather than with the opposite sex. The marriage institution will receive a severe blow. In this scheme, youths are the most valuable tool, and they will fully accept these new ways of relationships without knowing the intended consequences on cultures, traditions, religion and our moral fibres.
“Finally, adding ‘Granting of Right’ to a society that is already morally decadent is like falling deeper into the pit of hell. President Bola Tinubu should therefore reverse his interest in accepting the loan. We must warn that no government is all-knowing, and proper understanding of the matter should not come from the moon.”
Recall that the Chairman, Human and Constitutional Rights Committee, African Bar Association, Sonnie Ekwowusi, had earlier said Nigeria must withdraw from the agreement, stressing that the deal was not in the interest of the country.
He insisted that articles of the agreement, especially 2.5, 29.5, 36.2, 88, 97, violate Nigeria’s laws, Nigeria’s sovereignty and African Charter on Peoples and Human Rights which Nigeria has domesticated.
He explained: “Nigeria is a sovereign country, as are other African nations, the Caribbean, and the Pacific countries. We should not be dictated to by the EU. We are no longer under the tutelage of our former colonial masters. If the EU decides to stop providing financial assistance due to our refusal to sign the LGBTQ agreement, they may proceed to do so. However, we cannot yield to the EU’s cheap blackmail and sign the agreement.”
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