I had initially though not to comment on the current
happenings regarding the passing into law of the bill against LGBT’s (Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) by President Goodluck Jonathan. However,
something came to mind which resulted from the way CNN reported the story when
it first broke out (their tagging of the man they interviewed from the streets
as a Nigerian musician got me quite rattled at that point in time, especially
when you see it from the perspective that musicians are almost like journalists
who thrive in communicating the stand point of a majority of the populace), an
office discussion and a bit more thought.
The perspective that I had initially played up in my mind is
one that resonates with a tweet from Ruggedman (an actual musician) “what is it
with this present day govt n sexual matters. Now its gay bill rights? Fix the infrastructure,
develop d oncoming generation jare .” I felt there were more
important issues on GEJ’s plate than delving into the LGBT issue. So upon
second thoughts I looked at it from a different angle, a political angle.
The political angle I see from where I lay at the moment is
an angle of diversion and manipulation that takes into focus 2015. 2015 is when
the next presidential elections is going to be and President Jonathan is trying
to put his ducks in a row, realizing the
relatively short time he has to buy goodwill, especially with the high rate of
party switching from PDP (People’s Democratic Party) to APC (All Progressives
Congress). The signing of LGBT into law
is a sign that he is making deliberate moves to capture the hearts of voters.
The GEJ camp has realized that the LGBT law is one that they
know would garner support from majority of Nigerians. Based on a recent study
by the Pew Research Center in 2013, Nigeria seemingly has the highest
percentage of people globally against homosexuality i.e. nine-in-ten (98%). This
result implies that the passing into law of the LGBT bill would be a point for
the GEJ camp, especially as no political party will be able to challenge it.
The bill reaching his table already shows that the honorable senators were
able to reach an agreement despite their various party differences.
What he has done is to buy himself support from Nigerians
and portray himself as a bold leader in the African continent, especially as
he’s one of the first African leaders to take a solid stand. He has not so
subliminally passed a message to the world that he will stand behind the
majority opinion of his people despite the international outcry.
I see this as a strategy from the GEJ camp to use the bill as a substitute for football,
which is known to bridge religious and ethnic differences within the Nigerian
population. Also, it also appears that this is not the first attempt by the GEJ
team to buy support. The other strategy I refer to was a major flop, and involved the renaming of a popular educational institution after a
President-elect from South West Nigeria who never got to be President.
The Possible Backlash
With the current reactions by countries like Canada who allegedly asked GEJ to discontinue/postpone his visit is a sign that several more governments
could react in a similar or more drastic manner. The question that now stands
ahead is if the GEJ team thought through their strategy and are prepared for
reactions like this or will succumb to international pressure and ask the
Senate to revise the bill, giving room to opposition parties to question
his leadership.
However, there’s a high probability he will hold this stand
point till 2015 when he hopes to get re-elected, using the law as leverage,
then he might chose to remedy the relationship that’s slowly turning into a difficult international issue with countries that support LGBT’s. Except of
course he chooses to chart a different path with Nigeria’s foreign policy
(which this writer doesn't have in-depth knowledge about) with a country like
Russia, which is already known for its resistance to LGBT.
