Same Sex Marriage: 'No Sacred Cows' --FG Warns Foreign Nationals

Source: huhuonline.com

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In a way of endorsing the Senate' position on same sex marriage, the Federal Government has confirmed its determination to wield the sledge hammer by prosecuting Nigerians, including foreign nationals who run afoul of the prohibition law,

Huhuonline.com http://Huhuonline.com/ can report.
Political Adviser to the President, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, disclosed that Nigerian laws must be respected and no nation, however, powerful could dictate appropriate laws for the nation, warning that any United States citizen or other foreign national who runs afoul of the prohibition law would be prosecuted.

'This is Nigerian law, it is not American law and if you are an American and you come to Nigeria, you must subject yourself to our law and if you are caught, you will be prosecuted accordingly.'

'No community in this country supports same sex marriage. I have not heard of any community in Nigeria that supports gay or lesbianism or what have you. So our laws are for our country and not for Americans.

'If Americans like, they can go and be marrying themselves as men and women; that is their problem, that is their culture, but in Nigeria, our laws are that no same sex marriage. And if you are discovered to have done that, there is a penalty for that.'

He further mentioned that the United States may have failed to appreciate that Nigeria had different culture and that the law passed by the National Assembly 'is in consonant with the culture of Nigeria.'

Recall that the United States President Barrack Obama had shortly after the passage of the bill by the Senate issued a presidential memorandum directing 'all federal agencies engaged abroad to ensure that US diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons.'

Reacting to Obama's presidential memo, the Federal Government, through the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, had last week affirmed that Nigeria is an independent nation and reserves the right to make its laws without apology to other countries because 'we live in a democracy and in every democracy as you know, there are institutions, there are laws and also there are cultures, there are beliefs and values.'

The proposed law, amongst other punitive measures, provides that witnesses or anyone who helps same sex couples marry will be sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.

The bill also makes it illegal to register gay clubs or organisations and criminalise the "public show of same sex amorous relationships directly or indirectly."