I was on Twitter yesterday during a dead lecture on the the pharmacological management of dementia and the different types of dementia.... (I know it sounds important - I will revise it later, promise!! ;^D) and this pops onto my timeline:
So I then proceed to read the article (by @JonahFisher a BBC correspondent in Nigeria) which was talking about what was going on in the senate (where reasonably, one would believe important decisions are being made about the countries future).
If you'd like to go to the trouble of reading the intial article before continuing you can go for it:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15992099
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15992099
But I'm going to rant about it anyway so yeah.... s'up to you really.
I apologise to those reading this who are not Nigerian. Being half Nigerian and having travelled a lot to that amazing part of the world (no, that was not sarcasm), I just find it easier to speak about it. I definitely think that the parralels that can be drawn from what is going on there may be applicable to other parts of Africa/the World.
So basically, the Nigerian government (this being its Senators) finds it necessary to sit down and create legislation about homosexuality, and to specify that individuals who are found to be in same sex civil partnerships/marriages etc will face a penalty of 14 years in prison (not 13, not 17, but 14) and those who are found to be helping them do so or who support these kinds of individuals will also face some sort of repercussion - basically, being homosexual and Nigerian is just not a great place to be right now as the government deliberates.
"This is to be pro-active so no-one catches us unaware," says Senator Ahmed Lawan, one of the senators pushing for this legislation - and it seems that he has no one opposing him. It has all been pretty speedily agreed on and everyone seems to be on the same page (interesting for Nigeria eh?).
I say this because Nigeria has a history of factioning between different tribes and religions and a scarring civil war (in the 1960's when the population of the East came to be at war with the rest of the newly formed, indepenent Nigeria). Today, similarly sad situations can be observed in Nigeria's socio-political climate, as an extremist sect of idiotic, uneducated individuals (I don't think its fair to the rest of Islam to label them as an "Islamic Sect"): Boko Haram are threatening to become Nigeria's "Al Quaeda" as they fight for Islamic Law to be imposed on the whole country - and have successfully carried out a couple of significant "terrorist attacks". Meanwhile their Christian brothers in the North of Nigeria kindly "turn the other cheek", however with a blood-stained cutlass in their hands and not after they have murdered a couple of random Muslims on the road, whose only fault in life was for looking Muslim, in the process. I digress...
One thing that has been said is that Christians and Muslims alike have been united on this matter.
"Even though we are said to be secular by our constitution, Nigerians are very religious people," Mr Lawan says.
I apologise to those reading this who are not Nigerian. Being half Nigerian and having travelled a lot to that amazing part of the world (no, that was not sarcasm), I just find it easier to speak about it. I definitely think that the parralels that can be drawn from what is going on there may be applicable to other parts of Africa/the World.
So basically, the Nigerian government (this being its Senators) finds it necessary to sit down and create legislation about homosexuality, and to specify that individuals who are found to be in same sex civil partnerships/marriages etc will face a penalty of 14 years in prison (not 13, not 17, but 14) and those who are found to be helping them do so or who support these kinds of individuals will also face some sort of repercussion - basically, being homosexual and Nigerian is just not a great place to be right now as the government deliberates.
"This is to be pro-active so no-one catches us unaware," says Senator Ahmed Lawan, one of the senators pushing for this legislation - and it seems that he has no one opposing him. It has all been pretty speedily agreed on and everyone seems to be on the same page (interesting for Nigeria eh?).
I say this because Nigeria has a history of factioning between different tribes and religions and a scarring civil war (in the 1960's when the population of the East came to be at war with the rest of the newly formed, indepenent Nigeria). Today, similarly sad situations can be observed in Nigeria's socio-political climate, as an extremist sect of idiotic, uneducated individuals (I don't think its fair to the rest of Islam to label them as an "Islamic Sect"): Boko Haram are threatening to become Nigeria's "Al Quaeda" as they fight for Islamic Law to be imposed on the whole country - and have successfully carried out a couple of significant "terrorist attacks". Meanwhile their Christian brothers in the North of Nigeria kindly "turn the other cheek", however with a blood-stained cutlass in their hands and not after they have murdered a couple of random Muslims on the road, whose only fault in life was for looking Muslim, in the process. I digress...
One thing that has been said is that Christians and Muslims alike have been united on this matter.
"Even though we are said to be secular by our constitution, Nigerians are very religious people," Mr Lawan says.
Hmmmm.... well thank you Mr Lawan for your insight, its amazing that you can still speak over your quadruple chin & that you haven't yet had a stroke due to your arteries being clogged with caviar and the other fineries of life that you enjoy with the stolen money that probably put you in your position of power.
(Apologies, from here on in, I promise to be civil)
The BBC article and discussion that I was reading came two days after I had noticed something on a random persons facebook page. & no, I wasn't stalking! I'll share what I read with you
Equally interesting for me was that we (some Imperial College students & affiliates) had discussed some the issues that were still keeping Africa and certain countries and peoples within Africa divided and in dis-unity (you know what I mean). This took place in a focus group session called POP (People of Principle), which takes place every Thursday afternoon/evening at 17:30-18:30 in the library cafe of Imperial College's South Kensington campus. What this focus group aims to do is to identify what the problems in Africa are today, what we can do to solve those problems and how we can become the people that solve the problems & don't propagate them further.
An interesting parralel was made with the comic-made-movie, Watchmen, where it took an outer-worldly catastrophe i.e. an alien invasion, for the two superpowers (America and Russia in the 80's - the Cold War, & the Iron Curatin etc) to stop fighting each other and bickering over their differences while each trying to take over the world. This mass shock to both their systems led to them working together to counter the problem & eventually they all got along & world peace was achieved etc etc blah blah (by the way, if you're confused with the whole superpower thing - you need to revise your GCSE History or go on Wikipedia or something!)
One of the students present suggested that it would take something similar, a mass catastrophe or some shock to our system for us to stop bickering against each other internally. How sad it is to see that the one time when we are unified, and very strongly so, is not when we stand up to protect ourselves but to act in complete and unadulterated prejudice against a part of our own society.
The thing I that I find distressing is that the Nigerian senate feels it necessary to sit down and create legislation on homosexuality, especially spelling out the period of imprisonment. Meanwhile, they are driven to work everyday by their queue's of 25 different 2011 model BMW's and rake up a salary of 2.02 Million Naira a year (Source: http://www.elombah.com/news/node/3824). The masses of wealth that Nigeria's elite politicians hoard just makes you ask the question how does that even happen? & more importantly, what legislation is being put in place to safeguard the poor in Nigeria, ensure stable and sustainable economic development, equity and prosecute fraudulent practices?
PLEASE TELL ME HOW THE FLIP YOU DO THAT?!?! PLEASE, I NEED TO KNOW!
What angers me is that if we are going to spend time discussing and debating the issues that are really going to change our nation, then why are we not spending time creating legislation to inprison those who steal government money? If the senate is so adamant on safe-guarding Nigerias future, why is legislation not being made to tighten accountability on state money and tax-payer funded projects and make whistle-blowing easier within the public sector. Why are the leaders of our country not encouraging responsible economic practices and punishing those who steal, embezzle and futher worsen the appaling economic inequalities that exist in a lot of African countries? Instead, we find the time and need to publicise to the world that we are going to imprison the gays; and then proudly wave our Bibles, Qu'rans and the Nigerian flag in their face saying, "and what?!"
I am not gay, or a gay rights activist in any way; however as a follower of Jesus, I am taught to and relish opportunities to love, accept, engage and try to understand and people whom I may not agree with; especially those discriminated, stigmatised and rejected by society. Knowing some homosexual individuals myself, I don't believe that these are people who need to be imprisoned (a couple of them make bad jokes, but really?) I feel that pushing homosexuals deeper into the recesses of society due to fear of imprisonment is completely not what Jesus would do (if you want to take it there) and sorry but I am SO sick and tired of all the Bible and Qu'ran bashing that goes on in Nigeria - when are we going to actually apply the principles found in those books into our everyday lives people?! Don't bash them, READ THEM - THEY ACTUALLY HELP YOU IN LIFE!!
Yes, I understand Nigeria has a longstanding problem with corruption and lots is being done to tackle it and its really hard to change things (we've heard it all before). A former head of the governments' Economic and Finanicial Crimes Commission (which stands to tackle corruption), Nuhu Ribadu was exiled from the country for doing his job and being damn good at it. But even in its glamorous past with Ribadu, the EFCC has been limited in what it can achieve as it is subject to the desires of those in power with vested interests. Under the nose of the current EFCC, individuals like Gbenga Daniel (former governor of Ogun State in the South West) have been able to steal sums of up to 84 BILLION Naira from their own state governments allocation of the national pie (in Pounds that is 333 Million!) (Source: http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5748349-146/story.csp)
What angers me is that if we are going to spend time discussing and debating the issues that are really going to change our nation, then why are we not spending time creating legislation to inprison those who steal government money? If the senate is so adamant on safe-guarding Nigerias future, why is legislation not being made to tighten accountability on state money and tax-payer funded projects and make whistle-blowing easier within the public sector. Why are the leaders of our country not encouraging responsible economic practices and punishing those who steal, embezzle and futher worsen the appaling economic inequalities that exist in a lot of African countries? Instead, we find the time and need to publicise to the world that we are going to imprison the gays; and then proudly wave our Bibles, Qu'rans and the Nigerian flag in their face saying, "and what?!"
I am not gay, or a gay rights activist in any way; however as a follower of Jesus, I am taught to and relish opportunities to love, accept, engage and try to understand and people whom I may not agree with; especially those discriminated, stigmatised and rejected by society. Knowing some homosexual individuals myself, I don't believe that these are people who need to be imprisoned (a couple of them make bad jokes, but really?) I feel that pushing homosexuals deeper into the recesses of society due to fear of imprisonment is completely not what Jesus would do (if you want to take it there) and sorry but I am SO sick and tired of all the Bible and Qu'ran bashing that goes on in Nigeria - when are we going to actually apply the principles found in those books into our everyday lives people?! Don't bash them, READ THEM - THEY ACTUALLY HELP YOU IN LIFE!!
If you managed to read this far, you probably either have a LOT of free time or are quite interested in this topic (or you thought, let me read on, it will probably end soon). I challenge you to think, what would you do in this sort of situation if you were a Senator/Important kind of person in Government in Nigeria/Cameroon/South Africa/The UK? What legislation would you feel the need to push and what sort of changes would you want to see in your society? How would you best protect and fight for the rights and interests of those people who put you into power? How does promoting prejudice, judgement and fear safeguard your society for the future?
Oh yeah, that's right, if you're any politician in power in Africa right now you probably just gave truckloads of bags of rice to your constituency with your face on it - that kind of wins their vote and doesn't really make you responsible to them so you can happily embezzle the money allocated to your constituency and buy some more bags of rice to help you in the next election - WIN!
I wonder how many politicians have seen this diagram. Yes, Africa is the bit where its really RED (that means there's a LOT of HIV there, not that there's a lot of chicken stew there Mr Senator) and yes, HIV is OUR problem. From a medical perspective (as I do see through medic goggles), the stigmatisation and marginalisation of homosexuals in a lot of African countries simply pushes them underground and makes them less likely to try and come forward medical treatment when they know they are ill or are putting themselves at risk having unprotected sex, due to the fear of the consequences. This will only serve to worsen the prevalence and raise the infection rates of rapidly spreading infectious diseases like HIV within these sub-groups and this can have implications for the wider population. Now I know the AIDS epidemic is mainly in the heterosexual community in Africa, but we cannot simply not engage with homosexuals and push them into a corner of our society, even worse imprison them?
You're probably thinking, alright mate... calm down. I just guess I'm passionate about a lot of things. One thing I know is that when I grow up (lol), I do not want to be the kind of person that discriminates against homosexuals, Christians, Muslims or people who feel the need to steal government money until their fingers hurt.
I lie, the last group I would imprison and flog till they bleed, then make good use of vinegar, salt and other such livid condements as ointment for their wounds.
I'll let you decide if that was a joke or not.
Rant over.
Tobi Isaac Obisanya
@itobisanya on Twitter
Guest Blogger
Oh yeah, that's right, if you're any politician in power in Africa right now you probably just gave truckloads of bags of rice to your constituency with your face on it - that kind of wins their vote and doesn't really make you responsible to them so you can happily embezzle the money allocated to your constituency and buy some more bags of rice to help you in the next election - WIN!
You're probably thinking, alright mate... calm down. I just guess I'm passionate about a lot of things. One thing I know is that when I grow up (lol), I do not want to be the kind of person that discriminates against homosexuals, Christians, Muslims or people who feel the need to steal government money until their fingers hurt.
I lie, the last group I would imprison and flog till they bleed, then make good use of vinegar, salt and other such livid condements as ointment for their wounds.
I'll let you decide if that was a joke or not.
Rant over.
@itobisanya on Twitter
Guest Blogger
