President Goodluck Jonathan has accused his main challenger in March 28 election, Muhammadu Buhari, of assuring western nations of his preparedness to support same-sex marriage if he wins the forthcoming polls.
Mr. Jonathan, who spoke through his campaign organization, said Mr. Buhari made the pledge to secure the support of the countries to win election.
Femi Fani-Kayode, the Spokesperson of President Jonathan, said four western countries extracted a commitment from Mr. Buhari, who represents the All Progressives Congress, to support a legislation enabling same sex marriage.
Amid a flurry of apparently election-fuelled allegations, the claim by the Jonathan camp Wednesday seemed one of the most serious.
Still, Mr. Fani-Kayode, reputed for making unsubstantiated allegations against political opponents, refused to give the names of the four countries he was referring to.
Mr. Buhari, seen by his supporters as a non-nonsense former military leader, whose brief administration in the 1980s waged campaigns against indiscipline and corruption, has not given any hint suggesting he would condone same-sex relationship, already outlawed in Nigeria.
Nigeria's National Assembly has already passed a bill making gay marriage a criminal offense, and offenders risk spending 14 years in jail if convicted.
But addressing a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja, Mr. Fani-Kayode said the proposition was made to Mr. Buhari by the representatives of a number of western governments when he was in the United Kingdom recently.
Mr. Fani Kayode said Mr. Buhari had appealed to the western leaders for support and to get their endorsement.
"He had talks with the representatives of at least four western countries. The leaders of those countries made an offer to General Muhammadu Buhari and we are reliably informed that he has put the offer under consideration.
"The proposition and offer was that if he was prepared to support legislation in Nigeria to allow same sex marriage and if he was prepared to repeal the anti-gay laws in Nigeria they will, in return, endorse, support and fund him, initially covertly and eventually publicly, at the right time," he said.
He also said that instead of out rightly rejecting these offers and spurning this proposition, Mr. Buhari "apparently refused to rule it out and has put the matter under consideration.
"Instead of him to say NO he assured them that he would consider these two things.
"We believe that this is a matter that ought to be brought to the attention of the Nigerian people as a matter of urgency," he said.
Mr. Fani-Kayode added that the APC are so desperate to ensure that Mr. Buhari becomes the President of Nigeria that they are actually prepared to consider the scrapping of all anti-gay or anti-homosexual legislations and at the same time, endorsing and supporting fresh legislation that would allow same sex marriage in the country.
"They are considering this despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of the Nigerian people find same sex marriage and, indeed, homosexuality repugnant and unacceptable.
"We are using this occasion to challenge General Buhari to come clean and to tell the Nigerian people whether this is true and whether, in the unlikely event of his being elected President, he is seriously considering scrapping the anti-homosexual laws in our country and pushing through new legislation which would allow same sex marriage," Mr. Fani-Kayode said.
Premium Times
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Morocco recalls its ambassador to Nigeria
Morocco has recalled its ambassador to Nigeria, in a row over whether the president of Nigeria is trying to use the king of Morocco to win over Muslim voters before Nigeria's elections this month.
Last week, the Moroccan royal palace said the king had declined a request for a telephone conversation with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan. Nigeria's foreign ministry denied the snub on Monday and said the two leaders had spoken extensively.
Jonathan, a Christian from southern Nigeria, will face former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim northerner, in elections on March 28. The election is expected to be the most closely fought since the end of military rule in 1999.
Nigeria's population is roughly split between Christians and Muslims. Both parties, the ruling People's Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress, have been using religion to bolster support.
"Morocco confirms, in the clearest and strongest terms, that there has never been a phone conversation between the King Mohammed VI and the president of this country," a statement from the Moroccan foreign ministry said.
The Nigerian foreign ministry said it was "preposterous to suggest that Mr. President's telephone call to the Moroccan monarch was intended to confer any electoral advantage."
A spokesman for the ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the recall.
Morocco cited "the hostile, recurrent and unfriendly positions of the Nigerian government with regard to the Moroccan Sahara issue and the sacred Arab-Muslim causes" as a reason for declining Jonathan's call.
Nigeria is one of the main supporters, along with Algeria and South Africa on the continent, of the independence movement Polisario Front in the disputed Western Sahara.
The territory is a tract of desert the size of Britain that has lucrative phosphate reserves and possibly oil, is the focus of Africa's longest-running territorial dispute, between Morocco and the Polisario guerrillas.
Reuters
Last week, the Moroccan royal palace said the king had declined a request for a telephone conversation with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan. Nigeria's foreign ministry denied the snub on Monday and said the two leaders had spoken extensively.
Jonathan, a Christian from southern Nigeria, will face former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim northerner, in elections on March 28. The election is expected to be the most closely fought since the end of military rule in 1999.
Nigeria's population is roughly split between Christians and Muslims. Both parties, the ruling People's Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress, have been using religion to bolster support.
"Morocco confirms, in the clearest and strongest terms, that there has never been a phone conversation between the King Mohammed VI and the president of this country," a statement from the Moroccan foreign ministry said.
The Nigerian foreign ministry said it was "preposterous to suggest that Mr. President's telephone call to the Moroccan monarch was intended to confer any electoral advantage."
A spokesman for the ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the recall.
Morocco cited "the hostile, recurrent and unfriendly positions of the Nigerian government with regard to the Moroccan Sahara issue and the sacred Arab-Muslim causes" as a reason for declining Jonathan's call.
Nigeria is one of the main supporters, along with Algeria and South Africa on the continent, of the independence movement Polisario Front in the disputed Western Sahara.
The territory is a tract of desert the size of Britain that has lucrative phosphate reserves and possibly oil, is the focus of Africa's longest-running territorial dispute, between Morocco and the Polisario guerrillas.
Reuters
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Video - Nigerian military re-capture more towns from Boko Haram
Nigeria's military said Tuesday it had only one town left to recapture from Boko Haram militants in the north-eastern state of Yobe, a former stronghold of the group. This as Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin mobilize forces to help Nigeria defeat the group, after it seized large swathes of territory and staged cross border attacks.
Nigeria ranked 2nd in most affordable internet service in emerging economies
Nigeria has ranked second as the country with the most affordable Internet in emerging nations according to a study conducted by Alliance for Affordable internet (A4AI).
In a presentation by Sonia Jorge, executive director, A4Ai, at the Ericsson and Alliance for Affordable Internet programme at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain recently, Nigeria was buoyed by a strong leadership and regulation of the industry, robust broadband strategy, effective competition in the telecommunications sector, efficient spectrum allocation, universal access to rural and underserved population, and infrastructure sharing, among others.
Jorge said “Nigeria comes second in the Affordability Index’s ranking of developing economies – scoring higher than other African developing economies like Kenya, Morocco and Uganda, and higher even than some emerging economies, including Mexico, South Africa, Thailand and Tunisia.
The backbone infrastructure in Nigeria has improved significantly over the last decade, with multiple players, including Phase 3, Glo 1, Suburban Telecom, Multilink and MTN, building fibre networks that crisscross the country.
Minister of Communications Technology, Dr Omobola Johnson who spoke at the forum said what will grow the internet in Nigeria is local content and not over-reliance on YouTube and other such social media channels.
She said “What will drive the internet is relevant, local content. The most visited sites in Nigeria are the job and the news sites, not social media.”
Johnson informed that the decision of the Nigerian government that ICT was primary leading to creation of the Communication Technology Ministry has positively affected the fortunes of the sector.
She hailed the commitment of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to the development of broadband technology in the country, pointing out that on presentation of the Broadband Report to him in 2013, the president immediately gave the implementation go-ahead.
His action has added impetus to what is happening in the sector.
Nigeria’s regulator, the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), plans to award seven licenses to regional infrastructure companies to extend broadband infrastructure nationally.
The first two of these were awarded in early 2015 to MainOne and HIS Communications to provide services in Lagos and North Central states, respectively.
The government is also working to improve infrastructure sharing among these operators, who have traditionally built overlapping fibre networks.
The nascent “Smart States” initiative, which sees states committing to reduce the cost of broadband access by reducing taxation and simplifying regulation, is also a positive step.
Nigeria’s mobile broadband penetration rate stands at just 10 per cent despite the fact that close to 40 per cent of Nigerians use the Internet – and the government has put in place policies to increase this penetration level to 30 per cent by 2018.
Leadership
In a presentation by Sonia Jorge, executive director, A4Ai, at the Ericsson and Alliance for Affordable Internet programme at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain recently, Nigeria was buoyed by a strong leadership and regulation of the industry, robust broadband strategy, effective competition in the telecommunications sector, efficient spectrum allocation, universal access to rural and underserved population, and infrastructure sharing, among others.
Jorge said “Nigeria comes second in the Affordability Index’s ranking of developing economies – scoring higher than other African developing economies like Kenya, Morocco and Uganda, and higher even than some emerging economies, including Mexico, South Africa, Thailand and Tunisia.
The backbone infrastructure in Nigeria has improved significantly over the last decade, with multiple players, including Phase 3, Glo 1, Suburban Telecom, Multilink and MTN, building fibre networks that crisscross the country.
Minister of Communications Technology, Dr Omobola Johnson who spoke at the forum said what will grow the internet in Nigeria is local content and not over-reliance on YouTube and other such social media channels.
She said “What will drive the internet is relevant, local content. The most visited sites in Nigeria are the job and the news sites, not social media.”
Johnson informed that the decision of the Nigerian government that ICT was primary leading to creation of the Communication Technology Ministry has positively affected the fortunes of the sector.
She hailed the commitment of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to the development of broadband technology in the country, pointing out that on presentation of the Broadband Report to him in 2013, the president immediately gave the implementation go-ahead.
His action has added impetus to what is happening in the sector.
Nigeria’s regulator, the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), plans to award seven licenses to regional infrastructure companies to extend broadband infrastructure nationally.
The first two of these were awarded in early 2015 to MainOne and HIS Communications to provide services in Lagos and North Central states, respectively.
The government is also working to improve infrastructure sharing among these operators, who have traditionally built overlapping fibre networks.
The nascent “Smart States” initiative, which sees states committing to reduce the cost of broadband access by reducing taxation and simplifying regulation, is also a positive step.
Nigeria’s mobile broadband penetration rate stands at just 10 per cent despite the fact that close to 40 per cent of Nigerians use the Internet – and the government has put in place policies to increase this penetration level to 30 per cent by 2018.
Leadership
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Video - Activists pressure Nigerian government to find kidnapped schoolgirls
The abduction of some 270 school girls in northeastern Nigeria highlighted the dangers that women caught up in armed conflict face. The incident sparked global condemnation and a social media campaign to rescue the girls. But today, the hashtag 'Bring-Back-Our-Girls' is only being used by a small group of activists in the capital Abuja.
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