US visit: What Nigerians want Buhari to tell Obama

Emeka Ibemere

Ahead of July 20 expected visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to the United States of America in a scheduled meeting with President Barrack Obama, issues are gearing up as to what the president of the African’s largest economy was going to do with the world’s acclaimed strongest economy-America! President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria will on July 20 visit President Barrack Obama in the White House.

The two leaders would during the first official meeting deliberate on how to end the nagging Boko Haram insurgency in the country.  According to the statement from the White House, “President Obama will host Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari at the White House on July 20; the visit will mark our support for the Nigerian people following their historic democratic elections and peaceful transfer of power.”

The White House in the statement added that Obama looks forward to discussing with Buhari the two countries’ many shared priorities including US-Nigeria cooperation to “advance a holistic, regional approach to combating Boko Haram, as well as Nigeria’s efforts to advance economic and political reforms that will help unlock its full potential as a regional and global leader.”

Since the release of this statement, Nigerians of different hue and cry have been sounding it loud and clear ahead of the Buhari’s august visit to America, warning him not to fall prey to any Greek gift that would not augur well for the country irrespective of what White House is offering him.

Prior to now, Nigerians have been insinuating that the invitation extended to Buhari by Obama was to lure him into repealing the anti-gay laws signed by President Goodluck Jonathan which was passed into bill by the National Assembly.

Nigerians, especially social media activists have been undaunted with the reports that Obama failed to assist former President Goodluck Jonathan to fight Boko Haram insurgency because of the anti-gay legislation which the former President signed into law.

Obama who refused to visit Nigeria since coming into power, despite the overwhelming support Nigerians gave him during his election campaigns rebuffed Jonathan’s administration and became one of the vocal international critics of the era but made quick return to work with Nigerian’s new administration immediately Buhari won the 2015 election. 

According to those who spoke to our correspondent on the visit, which has raised eyebrows in some quarters, Buhari should be firm to what he wants from America and be courageous to tell Obama, that Nigeria is not ready for anything short of economic and political assistance. They also opined that the President shouldn’t in any way trade with the faith and moral standard of Nigerian’s citizens as regards to gay marriage and relationship issue which the Nigerian people have condemned out rightly.

Ebere Nwosu, a graduate of political science said Buhari should watch it as America is ever-ready to offer the gay- legalisation -for -foreign -assistance to Buhari and warned the president to be wary of the antics of America and what would come out of the meeting.

 “America is using money-diplomacy to lure poor African countries into legalising gay marriage and likely, Obama is likely to offer Buhari such incentives”. 

Roseline Ekwueme, a worker in Redeemed Christ Apostle Church also asked Buhari to say no to Buhari if such offer is made to him as a means of assisting his government adding that it wouldn’t be in the interest of Nigerians and the future of the country.

Mrs Olemeye Agatha, a businesswoman in broad street, Lagos Island said going to America by Buhari shouldn’t bring misfortune to the country or make Nigeria rejected by God, who frowns at homosexuality. He said Buhari should know that he is a good Muslim who has integrity and respect among Nigerians.    

Prophet Cletus Chukwunwuba Ilongwo, popularly known as Obo Oku Jesus, and oje Na muo Jesus (flame of fire), the seer of the fast growing church, the Holy Spirit Evangelical Ministry, Abulado near International Trade Fair on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, Lagos State prayed against Homosexuals and lesbians including their foreign collaborators who want to make sure that Nigeria signed the bill granting them permit to marry each other. He said Nigeria should not accept the gay offer for it is an abomination.

“It’s an abomination unto God. In the book of Genesis, God created man and after watching man and saw that he cannot stay alone, He created woman from the rib of man. And there was no way man and man can reproduce to form another generation. So, there is nowhere in the Bible that God instructed man to go and marry man. It’s against God and its abomination unto God. Holy Spirit told me to speak against it and that it’s against God’s law. Any country that supports homosexual and lesbianism, the wreath of God will follow that country.” Prophet Cletus Ilongwo stated.

A lecturer at Covenant University, Professor Kayode Soremekun at the heat of the pressure from America, also that What was happening demonstrates the low level that the US treats its relation with Nigeria. He said every Nigerian should feel insulted that the US is threatening to stop assisting us on areas where we have the resources and human capacity to contend.

“Even when the West had their misgivings about Russia’s anti-gay law, they have not gone threatening them with sanctions and punitive action. We are not reckoned with in the international arena where we are getting assistance for HIV/AIDS, Malaria treatment drugs, polio virus crusade among other mundane issues,” Professor Soremekun said.

 ”Nigeria is still a conservative society and the anti-gay law has united the ruling class and Nigerians outside government at this level of our national development. The US and its EU partners should be discussing serious issues; the leadership showed pro-activeness in trying to save the society from getting exposed to practices that are antithetical to our culture. “We should be focussing on the items on the Bi-National Commission between both countries, but these threats show that we are nonentity in global arena. When the US is discussing with Iran on nuclear issues, they are threatening us on mundane issues”.

According to Soremekun, “we should be able to make the US and its EU allies realise that they cannot go to China to dictate their laws. China is still a communist country and they are falling over themselves to go to China and do business. We should make them realise what General Abacha did when he opened the door to China and Asian countries in the 1990s.”

Former Nigerian Ambassador to US, Dahiru Suleiman, once described homosexuality and lesbianism as “animalistic and degrading to humanity.”  

During the signing of the anti-gay bill into law, the Public Relations Officer of Northern CAN, Elder Sunday Oibe said Christians from the North and their counterparts in other religions have unanimously expressed gratitude to the president and the National Assembly for passing the Anti-Same Sex Marriage despite opposition from Europe and the US. Dr Chiegboka, a Clinical Psychologist simply described the recent development as Americans acting God to the rest of the world.  She explained that the consequences of their unwholesome decisions like in the issue of legalizing abortion etc keeps getting back to them, yet they seem not to learn from it.

In simple terms, what it’s out to achieve is the exclusion of humanity. A process of termination of human beings and everybody will toe the line where same sexes will marry each other and there will be no more forms of natural reproduction. “What baffles me is that gay people still go ahead to adopt children produced through natural process.”

The implication however that is the children will be raised in their form of orientation believes. Psychology as a form of science believes in procreation. Gay being a psychological condition could be managed through psychological therapy through a long time retraining of those who are wrongly wired. Through upbringing, socialization and as a result starts behaving in sexual pattern than is unacceptable.

  Finally, “A child brought up by Gay parents will not enjoy the privilege of having both father and mother. One figure of parenthood will be missing in such child and in most cases the child will through training be made to believe in what their parents believes,  there is 70 per cent chances that they may go into similar marriage like their parents when they grow up.” She concluded.    

Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, journalist, and writer writing recently on the gay marriage and Nigerians, said many Nigerians are genuinely terrified of gay marriage. And they are distraught over the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to legalize gay marriage in America.

According to her, Nigerians express sadness and pity for what is supposedly God's Own Country. “They predict America's inevitable decline. But the emotion most potent in their words is fear. The kind you might expect from news of an impending tsunami. Many Nigerians appear terrified that, having finally won the victory on home soil, America will now set its sights on imposing similar legislature in countries like Nigeria. "We must resist this wave," I have heard people say.” She wrote.

“Rumours of America's plan of action have already started making the rounds. Over the past few days, a number of articles in local newspapers have revealed what some Nigerians believe to be the secret agenda behind President Obama's invitation to Nigeria's new president, Muhammadu Buhari. Allegedly, the meeting, scheduled to take place in the White House on July 20, is aimed at persuading President Buhari to repeal Nigeria's infamous Same Sex Prohibition Law signed by the previous Goodluck Jonathan administration. "Beware of Obama's Invitation," read a headline in one of Nigeria's dailies.”

According to her, a June 2015 survey conducted by Nigeria's NOI Polls which works in collaboration with Gallup shows that 90% of Nigerians believe their country would be a better place without homosexuals. In addition, 81% do not agree that gay people should have the same rights as other Nigerians. Only 30% of Nigerians were shown to believe that gay people deserved equal access to public services such as healthcare, housing and education.

“Despite these hair-raising data, I would be surprised if the anti-gay bill were the only reason why President Obama has extended this warm invitation to Nigeria's president, what with issues like Boko Haram currently siphoning global attention. But if indeed he has the welfare of gay Nigerians in mind, President Obama must proceed with caution.

“At the October 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Perth, Australia, British Prime Minister David Cameron told African leaders that if they resisted homosexuality in their countries, they risked losing aid money from the United Kingdom. Those words registered quite highly on the scale of African indignation. From Ghana to Zimbabwe to Uganda, commentators, columnists and government officials encouraged Cameron to zoom off to hell with his aid.

Nigeria, the giant of Africa, went beyond mere sound and fury. Within weeks, the country's Senate swept aside other pressing national concerns and called for a 14-year prison sentence for anyone convicted of homosexuality -- an issue that had previously not featured on the national agenda. In December 2013, then President Jonathan signed the anti-gay bill, which illegalized public displays of affection between gay couples, and banned organizations that promote gay rights. NOI Polls showed that 92% of Nigerians were at the time in favour of the new law”, Nwaubani, writes.

“If the topic of gay rights arises in his conversation with President Buhari, President Obama must remember that he is the helmsman of America, not of Nigeria. He must realize that "We must not allow these 'white people' tell us what to do" is increasingly becoming a valid reason for Africans to ignore both unconstructive and beneficial counsel on various issues”.

She is of the opinion that the legalization of gay marriage in America has led Nigerians to build up a fresh readiness to resist anything homosexual.  She said the anti-gay swords have been unsheathed. “How carefully President Obama and other activists in America conduct themselves when advocating on behalf of the gay people in countries like Nigeria will go a long way in either ameliorating or worsening the welfare of those they seek to help”, she concluded.

Meanwhile, some Nigerians seem to be asking the President to boycott the visit using the wanton killings of Nigerians as an excuse.  There are keen pressures from some Nigerians who have continued to mount on President Muhammadu Buhari to drop his scheduled visit to the Unites States of America on July 20, due to incessant killing by Boko Haram goons in parts of the country.

It would be recalled that no fewer than 1000 people have been killed since the president took over in May 29, with over 226 deaths in the last 7days.

The latest killing in series of attacks that have claimed more than 200 lives in just seven days happened on Sunday, with 44 people killed and 47 sustained injuries in Jos, capital of Plateau State, and Kaduna States, when Boko Haram insurgents struck inside a mosque and a restaurant in the cities.

However, there are expectations that Nigerian’s citizens in America, are likely going to go on protest in America as Buhari visits Obama.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, The LGBT, community kicked against the anti-gay law saying the new law encroaches on their human rights - rights that should be recognised and protected in a democratic society. According to them, it was wrong and unacceptable since same-sex marriages or relationships was no business of the state to criminalise, since they have the right to private and family life.

The group said no government should take away their constitutionally guaranteed right from them. “Be it sexual or marital relationships between men; or one between women, such acts are private matters between two consenting adults, which the state should not be concerned with”, the group opined.

The Initiative for Equal Rights (TIER), a Nigeria-based LGBT organisation, had tweeted that "government should think about development and not sex between two consensual adults."

Many gay activists of Nigerian scions in America and Europe are also in support of this position, believing that Nigerians must be tolerant and respect the rights of others, no matter their personal convictions or religious beliefs.

Their view is that the practices in the United States and the United Kingdom are often cited as ready examples as to how modern and democratic Nigeria should be like.

On June 26, 2015 the world was woken up with news to a great shock, when the United States of America became the twenty-first and most populous country to legalize same-sex marriage following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision. The court ruled that the denial of marriage licenses to same-sex couples violates the Due Process and the Equal Protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.  Though this has happened in faraway America but the need to have a clearer perspective into the development and what it portends is paramount especially at this period when it has become a dominant discuss around the world, especially as Buhari visits this week.