CHANGING ATTITUDE NIGERIA NEWS

Nigerian gay representatives meet officer at Nigerian Human Rights Commission

Monday, 3 April 2006

On Friday 31 March 2006, Davis MacIyalla and other delegates from Nigeria attending the International Lesbian and Gay Association Conference in Geneva met a senior officer of the Nigerian Human Rights Commission. They discussed the ‘Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act, 2006’ with him. The officer expressed his personal concerns about the Bill and with the situation of LGBT people in Nigeria. He told the Nigerian delegates that they should forward a letter to the Human Rights Commission in Nigeria for possible action which can only take the form of recommendations to the Nigerian Government. He gave an overview of the possible future scenario in Nigeria. There is likely to be a legal battle over the place of LGBT people in Nigerian society which he said could take an average of 30 years.

Davis’s conclusion is that the situation is grim and seems very hopeless when it comes to the Nigerian legal system. On Monday morning, 3 April 2006, over 90 African delegates from the ILGA Conference went to the Nigerian Embassy  to protest against the Bill, and handed in a petition signed by delegates from 30 countries. Davis reports that his photograph was taken by Embassy staff , which creates more trouble for him, but his spirit is glad he protested openly because he no longer needs to hide in fear.

Nigerian friends continue to advise Davis that what the Church of Nigeria want is to get him killed so that the lies they have told about him will not be exposed.

Canon Akintunde Popoola, the Director of Communications for the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) continues to maintain that the allegations he made against Davis in the press release issued on 28 December 2005 under the name of Archbishop Peter Akinola, are still true. Despite repeated invitations to do so, he has failed to produce a single item of evidence in support of his allegations.

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This page was last updated on Monday, 18 August 2008