Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, has said the marriage between same-sex is not only a taboo but against the African culture
Uduaghan, who stated this in Dublin, Ireland, while receiving an international leadership award, stoutly defended the bill forbidding gay marriage in Nigeria and signed into law by President Jonathan.
The governor added that gay marriage was pedophilia, a psychiatric disorder, in which an adult had sexual interest in children and hence a taboo.
Uduaghan during the award ceremony given by Metro Eireann, Ireland’s major multicultural newspaper, told the international community, which had Ireland’s Minister of Trade and Foreign Investment, Mr. Joe Costello, in attendance, that gay marriage offended the cultural norms of Nigerians and that it could be likened pedophilia.
The governor, while reacting to comments during the ceremony, maintained that the law was popular and that Nigerians accept it.
“I am sure no one here in this country would accept a condition in which an adult can sleep with a 10-year-old girl. If that situation is not acceptable, we in Nigeria view gay marriage as such,” he said.
Uduaghan, who received thunderous applause for his strong position on this issue by a large Nigerian audience, explained that marriage in Nigeria was viewed as union between families.
“In Nigeria, marriage between two people is usually between a man and a woman and not just between them but between their families too,” he said.
“Whenever a couple come together, they are not coming together by themselves, it almost involves their different families and if it is known that in that family there are married gays, the danger is that the taboo emanating from that might even affect others who are straight and that is not right,” the governor emphasised.
Giving a personal example, he said: “In marrying my wife, it was the coming together of her family and my family and the blessings of the two families that made it happen.“
Accusing the international community of double standards, Uduaghan said he was surprised by their reactions, saying: “There was a public hearing by the National Assembly and we are not aware of their opposition to this bill. What happened was that a lot of Nigerians appeared and made submission in favour of it. So, it is a surprise that after the bill has been passed, we are now facing this opposition by the international community.”
Concluding his remark, governor insisted that anyone who wishes to be married to a gay is free to migrate to the country, where it is acceptable.
Source: Thisday
