Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has been accused of assuring western nations of his preparedness to support same-s*x marriage if he wins the March 28 presidential elections.
The accusation was made by the Director, Media and Publicity of the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organization, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, who said Mr. Buhari made the pledge to secure the support of the countries to win election.
According to Fani-Kayode, four western countries extracted a commitment from the APC flag bearer to support a legislation enabling same s*x marriage.
Nigeria’s National Assembly has already passed a bill making gay marriage a criminal offense, and offenders risk spending 14 years in jail if convicted. The bill was signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan in January 2014 amid protests from the UK Government and the European Union.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja, the PDPPCO spokesman said the proposition was made to Mr. Buhari by the representatives of a number of western governments when he was in the United Kingdom recently.
Mr. Fani Kayode said Mr. Buhari had appealed to the western leaders for support and to get their endorsement.
“He had talks with the representatives of at least four western countries. The leaders of those countries made an offer to General Muhammadu Buhari and we are reliably informed that he has put the offer under consideration.
“The proposition and offer was that if he was prepared to support legislation in Nigeria to allow same s*x marriage and if he was prepared to repeal the anti-gay laws in Nigeria they will, in return, endorse, support and fund him, initially covertly and eventually publicly, at the right time”, he said.
Fani-Kayode also said that instead of out rightly rejecting these offers and spurning this proposition, Mr. Buhari “apparently refused to rule it out and has put the matter under consideration.
“Instead of him to say NO he assured them that he would consider these two things.
“We believe that this is a matter that ought to be brought to the attention of the Nigerian people as a matter of urgency”, he said.
Mr. Fani-Kayode added that the APC are so desperate to ensure that Mr. Buhari becomes the President of Nigeria that they are actually prepared to consider the scrapping of all anti-gay or anti-homosexual legislations and at the same time, endorsing and supporting fresh legislation that would allow same s*x marriage in the country.
“They are considering this despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of the Nigerian people find same s*x marriage and, indeed, homosexuality repugnant and unacceptable.
“We are using this occasion to challenge General Buhari to come clean and to tell the Nigerian people whether this is true and whether, in the unlikely event of his being elected President, he is seriously considering scrapping the anti-homosexual laws in our country and pushing through new legislation which would allow same s*x marriage”, Mr. Fani-Kayode said.