In what appears like some support to the Same-Sex Marriage
Prohibition Bill passed and singed into law by President Goodluck
Jonathan on January 7, 2014, the Catholic Church in Nigeria on Friday
totally condemned the Gay practice, saying it defiled every moral and
Biblical principle.The church also said that God has ordained marriage between a man and a woman and not the other way round and asked the promoters of the Gay marriage to let Nigeria alone.
The position of the church was copiously advanced by the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria’s Cardinal John Olurenfemi Onaiyekan who addressed the press on sundry issues as part of the activities marking his 70th Birthday in Abuja.
Oniyekan whose 70 birthday’s celebrations will formally kick-start on February 5, 2014 with a Dinner at Nicon-Hilton, Abuja added Nigeria is an independent country capable of enacting appropriate laws that will govern her people and territory.
The Cardinal described as unfortunate the endorsement of the practice by some Anglican churches outside the shores of country but however gave thumbs up to the church in Nigeria for not embracing both homosexuality and lesbianism.
He said: “The position of the Catholic Church has always been clear that the designs of God are very clear to us. God created man; male and female He created them and told them to go and multiply and the church has stood by that natural plan of God. As a catholic, obviously I am against homosexuality therefore against same-sex marriage. My position all along has been that strictly speaking there is no such thing as same-sex marriage because marriage by definition is between a man and a woman. Anything else, you can call it whatever you like. Don’t call it marriage because marriage is between a husband and a wife."
The Archbishop also spoke against unfortunate reactions from those who have picked holes in Nigeria’s position on the matter, stressing that Nigeria’s social life cannot be dictated by foreign countries.
He also applauded the National Assembly for not bowing to local and international pressure during the enactment of the Bill.
Speaking on the 14 years of Imprisonment attached to Gay practice in Nigeria, Onaiyekan said that it was good to insert such sanctions to clearly announce to the whole world that the country abhors homosexualism and lesbianism.