Nigeria has reportedly signed a $150 billion deal with Samoa. The agreement has some clauses that supports the notion of same sex marriage and relationship which is completely against the laws in Nigeria. The agreement also has the tendency of propelling underdeveloped nations to accept this LGBTQ tendencies , before they can be given foreign aids.
On Monday, July 1, the information about Nigeria opting in for this deal came to the public, when the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku Bagudu affirmed the update at a reception organised by the European Union (EU) in Abuja.
But when confronted on Wednesday, Bagudu’s media assistant, Bolaji Adebiyi, said the documents signed by the federal government, which the Minister of Budget spoke about during the reception by the EU, were strictly for economic development of Nigeria.
He said bold that there was nowhere in the documents were LGBT or same sex marriage mentioned and that it would be wrong for anyone to assume that Nigeria had accepted those tendencies.
He reassured that what Bagudu signed was only related to $150 billion trade component.
When contacted yesterday to know whether they were aware of recent controversies surrounding the Samoa Agreement, Kamarudeen Ogundele, the spokesman for the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi SAN, was confronted to answer whether he knew about the new controversies surrounding signing any deal with Samoa, he only said he will make finding but never got back to the interviewers.
He did not call our reporter back to share the information requested up to press last night.
“The Samoa Agreement, named after the Pacific Island, Samoa, where it was signed on November 15, 2023 is a celebration of perversity. Certain Articles of the Agreement especially Articles 2.5 and 29.5 legalise LGBT, transgenderism, abortion, teen sexual abuse, and perversity in African countries. The signing of the Agreement by Nigeria constitutes a threat to the sovereignty of Nigeria and Africa. It further debases our democracy.
“I can wager that neither Minister Atiku Bagudu nor the Nigerian officials or diplomats who signed the Samoa Agreement on our behalf, understand the import of the agreement to Nigeria’s sovereignty, let alone the destructive impact of the Agreement in Nigeria. This explains why many African bodies including the AfBA have condemned the agreement and respectfully urged African countries not to sign it.
“Not infrequently, Nigerian officials in Geneva, New York, and other places sign international agreements or treaties over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine with little or no knowledge of their contents,” Ekwowusi said.
He further queried: “Were the Nigerian officials who signed the offensive Samoa Agreement representing their own interests or the interests of the Nigerian people? Having refused to sign the Agreement earlier, why did Nigeria change its mind and proceed to sign the Agreement?”
Barrister Sonnie said that on November 15, 2023, Nigeria shocked the EU by refusing to sign the “offensive” deal.
He also said 34 other African, aside Nigeria, which includes Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries, including the Republic of Benin, Senegal, Liberia, Botswana, Burundi, Jamaica, Mali, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Somalia, Namibia, Grenada, Eritrea, Malawi, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, the Kingdom of Eswatini, the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, the Republic of Maldives, Mauritania, the Republic of Nauru, the Republic of Palau, Saint Lucia, the Republic of Saint Kitts and Nevis, the Kingdom of Tonga, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and Tuvalu, also did not sign the LGBT Agreement.
“In fact, on that fateful November 15, 2023, Nigeria not only refused to sign the LGBT Agreement but was conspicuously absent in Samoa on the day of the signing. Frustrated by the refusal of these 35 countries to sign the Agreement, the European Union issued a significant threat dated November 24, 2023,” he said.
On Wednesday night, an official of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) was contacted, and he said that the council’s stance on same sex marriage or LGBT remained unchanged.
Abubakar Akande, the Administrative Secretary of the council, said that they were invited and they attended the meeting in Samoa in March this year, they did not accept the proposal brought to them.
He said that a 403-page document containing 104 articles was given to them , and Legal Director of the NSCIA read it, and that there was no same sex marriage in the draft.
“We (NSCIA) would not welcome such an agreement. Our stance remains the same since the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan. We cannot agree to what is against the injunction of our Creator, Allah, on this matter, and which also disrespects Nigeria’s sovereignty,” he said.
On his part, the Ameer (leader), Abuja Muslim Forum (AMF), Alhaji Abdulrazaq Ajani, said that the African civil society organisations (CSOs), which the AMF is a part of Samoa, and they had met top government officials and members of the two chambers of the National Assembly, especially the chairmen of the relevant committees in the House of Representatives, and the administrative leadership of the legislators, but they rejected all their submissions.
Some African CSOs on Wednesday night said that it will be a great disappointment for Nigeria and its people to accept such a deal proposed to them: LGBTQ tenders.
Barrister Richard Kakeeto, a Kenyan lawyer with Family Watch International, Africa Region, said in an interview that Africa was relying on Nigeria when it did not agree to the Samoa Agreement, at first.
“Many African countries, people of goodwill, were hoping that Nigeria will remain in that situation of not signing and probably even withdrawing from the Samoa Agreement totally.
“However, we have received information that on the 28th day of June 2024, the Ambassador of Nigeria in Brussels was given a go-ahead but we don’t know who signed the Samoa Agreement.
“As a result, Nigeria has committed itself to the human rights agenda of the European Union that involves the mainstreaming of sexual and reproductive health and rights, a term or a euphemism that is used to talk about abortion on demand, the sexualization of our children through comprehensive sexuality education, and the proliferation of reproductive sexual and reproductive health services, including hormones to sustain the homosexual lifestyle and transgender practices.
“The word LGBTQ++ that Nigerians have been contesting is now part of our law because Nigeria has decided to sign it. So, Nigerians should be very bitter with what is going on. They should challenge their legislators and policy makers to explain why they chose to commit to this dangerous agreement,” Kakeeto said.
Mrs. Omoye Olaye, the Media Coordinator for World Council for Health (WCH) said that the Nigerian government must rescind the deal.
“Our stand is very clear. Whoever signed on behalf of Nigerians needs to apologise to Nigerians. But we need more than the apology. We need Mr. President, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to rescind that signature.
“All he (Tinubu) needs to do is to apologise on Nigeria’s behalf very nicely and tell them that the truth is we have not signed. We are withdrawing from the ACP EU Treaty. That is all we ask the President to do. That is all we will accept. Anything less than that will not be accepted,” she said.
The budget minister said the Ekwowusi’s article was misleading.
“The article does not represent the content of the Samoa Agreement signed by Nigeria. The Articles 2.5 and 29.5 cited made no mention of LGBT rights but rather 29.5 guarantees “support [for] universal access to sexual and reproductive health commodities and health care services, including family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes”, he said.
“Article 2.5 states that: “The parties shall systematically promote a gender perspective and ensure that gender equality is mainstreamed across all policies.
“I fail to see how these articles imply the protection of LGBT rights. Please, note that this is a negotiated agreement among the 27 EU countries and 79 OACPS, which is subject to domestic laws. All 27 EU countries and 74 of the 79 OACPS have signed. Nigeria was the 73rd to sign last Friday, 28th June, in Brussels.
“Following the controversy around the agreement, the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning organised a stakeholders meeting in March in Abuja, comprising NGOs and religious bodies during which concerns were addressed.
“Meanwhile, the EU reception the Minister attended was for the 9th Nigeria-EU Business Forum. It was held in Abuja (not Enugu) on July 1,” Adebiyi said.
In 2014 , president Good luck Jonathan had signed into Law a bill that bans and criminalizes same sex marriage or relationship. He defies the pressure for the United States critics over gay rights. In the law, 14 years in imprisonment was the penalty for same sex marriage, membership or relationship.
In support of that motion, different religious groups supported the past administration for sticking to that resolution by the Nigerian Government by objecting to LGBTQ tendencies.
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