Anti-Gay Laws;=THE AFTERMATH ANALYSIS

So much has been said about the bill signed into law by President Jonathan criminalizing gay acts. This Act has been condemned by many people whose rights the government thought they were protecting.
Some Nigerians, while trying to sound in tune with the times, and identify as liberals, have postulated some reasons why Same Sex relations should be imbibed in Nigeria and why the new Act is parochial. Of all the reasons given, the dumbest I have heard from people is when they say: "...we have bigger problems than gay marriage". Really? Do we? When exactly is the best time to tackle a perceived problem? When it is yet in its formative stages and manageable or when it evolves into a monster, thereby becoming a menace to the society and more difficult to manage?

Let me digress...

For those familiar with the Isikwuato/ Uturu axis, we know what erosion has done to that road. Those who know the story know how many lives that gully erosion has claimed. The main road is totally cut off and a bypass has been in use for over 8 years (as far as I know). I'm sure that erosion started as a crack many years ago and, of course, it was ignored as something small. I can imagine them saying: "There are bigger or worse roads to be worked on so why should we bother with the little crack?" And the crack became a hole, and the hole became a gully and the gully split the road and started claiming lives and now the road is completely eaten up and a tiny untarred bypass had to be eventually created as a desperate measure to alleviate such disaster. Till date that erosion has persisted and has proved unmanageable. Any government that means to fix that road may have to spend the entire state budget fixing that road which emanated from "the tiny little crack"! Only if they knew. Only if they were proactive many years ago.

Contrastingly, such a crack was noticed along the Igbere/ Abiriba road but it never developed into a gully. While it was still manageable it was fixed and today, that road still services it's users.

A stitch in time saves nine, they say. Are there exceptions to that? In Igbo we'll say "e mee ngwa ngwa emeghara odachi. Have those proverbs outlived their usefulness?
Suddenly, the most potent excuse is that Nigeria has bigger problems to handle, why are they in a hurry to criminalize this one? A problem is a problem. Who determines the big versus the small. However, let me assume for a second that this is small, so should we wait for it to be hydra headed before we fight it? What happens to nipping it in the bud. Obviously, some think we shouldn't because they want to always be politically correct and also be termed "civilized" and "liberals". I'm sure, at some point, corruption was a small problem in Nigeria. Then people were stealing in thousands and maybe one digit millions (of Naira), now the money "disappears" in millions of dollars and pounds. I guess the issue of corruption is now big enough to be termed a problem worthy of being tackled or should we wait for it to get bigger? See how easy it is to handle now!

On the other hand, is gay rights America's biggest problem? They have gun control to battle with, high rate of divorce, racism (oh yea, it's still in existence), drugs, etc but they chose to champion this cause. Have we asked ourselves why? Recently they have also gone ahead to legalize marijuana. So "inu igbo" is now legal in certain states. In their usual manner they try to rationalize it. Tell me how you expect me to understand that something that has high potential of "ishi mgbaka" is now legal? Isn't that a path to self destruction? How many more kids need to be killed in schools or on the street before they make laws to withdraw the number of guns out there? Or is the exponential rate of divorce not a problem to them yet? Men and women change spouses like diapers and deny their children, the victims of their marital escapade, their "right" to the combined love of a mother and a father. Or is it the setback lots of men face for life in paying child support for 18 years! Of course many girls have exploited that opportunity to enrich themselves and turn into professional child bearers, some having 4-5 kids of different fathers and these kids getting minimal attention, support and love, get frustrated, have nothing to live for, go on a shooting spree and create more victims! Or is it racial profiling and discrimination which they will never admit to? Yet there they are calibrating our problems telling us which is bigger than the other. And they also tell me that in gay relationships, there are no victims; it's 2 consenting adults. Really? What's your definition of a victim? Are there no victims in divorces, racial discrimination, incessant shootings, drugs, etc, and are they done solving those ones? First, remove the log in your eyes...

For those who say they were born that way, aren't there other traits that you were seemingly born with that you have sought to change? Why have you chosen to get stuck with this one (that is assuming that argument is valid)? Also, people who engage in vices like kleptomania, child molestation, murder, pilfering, incest, etc can also claim to be born that way. So why have we condemned those? Furthermore, like many women, I like my guy tall, handsome, good body physique, smart, witty, good dentition, lovely smile, confident, etc. For the record, all my brothers possess these attributes. Does that give me the impetus to lust after my brothers being that they are an embodiment of my personal preferences which I found myself loving and was seemingly born with? Wouldn't that be incest which is also condemned by the West (for now) although their characteristics are my personal preference? One of the attributes of laws are that they are meant to guide, if you leave humans to have all they wish for or claim to be born with because it's our fundamental human right to want something and have it, your guess is as good as mine on what this world will turn into. The human mind is deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can know it?

Similarly, history has it that man is naturally polygamous. In case you don't agree with history, our African tradition demonstrates that to us. Our fore fathers, even some of our fathers practiced polygamy. How come it's difficult for the West to accept marrying more than one wife yet they want us to accept man to man and woman to woman? Can't we sell that to the western world? Or should we continue to be an import country and never export? Who knows, it might just be the cure to the numerous divorces and also teach them some patience, tolerance and respect which is lacking in most families. At least the children will be trained under a "complete" home and women can stay longer with their men. Polygamy might just be the cure. You don't have to stop, just add the next woman to your list. Have them all at once! But if they are bent on not accepting it but criminalize it with laws on bigamy, then why must we accept theirs? All man to his own! Aren't we an independent nation anymore? The law of sovereignty of nations allows nations freedom of governance without external interference. Have we lost of right to decide our laws as a nation?

The supporters of gay rights also say that Nigeria supports marriage to a 13-year old but criminalizing an act by 2 consenting adults. First, Nigeria didn't legalize the marriage of minors. The Marriage Act still requires minors below 21 to obtain consent from their parents. We all know that it's a certain religious sect that practices it and Federal laws have not validated it either. Conversely, Let me play the devil's advocate for a minute. The child in question is not Nigerian. She's Egyptian. The marriage also probably took place in Egypt and the couple live in Nigeria. To the extent that Egyptian laws support it, it becomes a jurisprudential issue and a case of Conflict of Laws, and that discuss is a topic for another day. Having said that I do not subscribe to marriage to minors but just clarifying the statement that "Nigerian constitution" supports marriage to minors, therefore they should also support gay.

If we continue like thus, the next step will be to legalize marijuana and prostitution. The list goes on...
They also say that Nigeria has no law on adultery and fornication, (which they canvass is a greater offense) why have one on gay? We'll, I'm not aware that either America or The UK has such laws and we don't have it for the same reason that they don't. The best I have heard is people (esp those in high position) resigning for having affairs, not that they go to jail for it. Since they are pace setters, they should criminalize that one and once done we will see how it plays out and see if it's worth copying. By then, the records will also be obvious on who'll be worse hit by those laws. Them or us?

In summary, I've tried not to sound religious in my write up, not because I don't have Bible and Quaran references to back my thoughts but I believe those areas have been effectively exposed by other writers. I could still make available the ones I have read about. But let me leave you with this religious thought: How come the acts the Bible condemned now receives so much attention, global campaign and funding in the bid to thwart and reverse same? Homosexuality, divorce, sex change, abortion, prostitution, etc and there's hardly money to promote anything biblical? So many questions to be answered!

I believe the President and our legislators did the right thing. We as a people have the right to determine our laws without external interference. Laws, when in consonance with people's belief work well with little ado. The law seeks to criminalize those conducts which the society abhors. Else of what use is it? Nku di na mba na eghere mba ji. What's good for the goose may not always be good for the gander. If it's good for them there, by all means let them prepare themselves a safe heaven to perpetrate such acts. A stitch in time saves nine. Emee ngwa ngwa, emeghara odachi. We don't always have to be politically correct to be on the right track.

In JOK's words, guard your ass jealously as ''ndi homo'' are seeking rights to destroy it!

On a final note, and in our usual retroactive rather than proactive manner, Abia government and Federal government please come to our aid on the Isuikwuato/Uturu road as I now have to ply that road more often to my new village.