Asake Musa,
Secretary, Christian Association of Nigeria, in this interview with
ADEOLA BALOGUN, speaks on the controversial constitutional amendment
about the right age a girl can get married
What is your reaction to the report that Nigeria is under pressure to legalise homosexuality?
Why should Nigeria be under pressure, are we under somebody? Everybody has their own way of living and so no country should import their reckless way of living to our own country. We have our own practice and we can not substitute our values with a value that does not fit our society. Nigeria should not succumb to such a negative pressure; we are a country of ourselves. We have our own rules; we have our own culture and we have our own morals; we have the fear of God. This is a religious country. It is a country where they have no fear of God that would want to usurp God’s order of creation; Nigeria is not ready to abide by that. They can not dictate the way we live our lives; let them live their own lives the way they choose.
There have been some subtle threats that they might withhold grants and aids to the country if Nigeria is adamant.
We can survive without their funds; they are not God. They can not threaten us; if they don’t fund us, we will survive. We cannot forgo our morals because of funds.
But don’t forget that there are also Christians in these countries.
Anybody that is trying to change the biblical order of creation does not know God because in the beginning, God created a man and a woman. If God wanted to create a woman and woman, he would have done it. You know, Christianity in some area has gone liberal where they no longer respect the Bible but they cannot and should not try to dictate to us to go with their morals. We have our own morals; we are a country of our own. Just because they are helping us, they should not dictate to that level to us. They can do that to their own people because the Bible is very clear that the original plan of God is man and woman, not otherwise. No one can change that one and so, no one should come with a perverted view of himself, of his political agenda and try to impose it on us because he is helping us. We say no.
But they are saying that the gays too have their own rights
Any fundamental human right that is against God’s ordained plan for the family is not a human right. God says it is man and woman, no one can change it. If they have the right that they claim, why do they plan to adopt children? Let them give birth to children.
Is homosexuality a sickness or just a way of life?
Anybody who is homosexual indicates that something definitely is wrong with their head because it is against God’s ordained order for the family. Any homosexual is sick in the head; I have no apology about that.
What is your view about the Senate resolution concerning the age for a girl to be married; what is the ideal age for a girl to get married?
I don’t really understand why that should be a matter of debate if they really understand the meaning of marriage. How can they take a little girl and say she is married? We are losing the meaning of marriage; can they do that to their own daughters? Our girls should not be subjected to that kind of treatment; how can you say a girl of 9, 10, 13 is ripe for marriage? I pray that our lawmakers will reason and make sure we don’t go that path because it is a path of destruction. The child of that age is still a baby. There is sex in marriage, how do you have sex with such a little girl? You break her; you tear her apart. You destroy the joy of marriage in her and she will grow up thinking that is what marriage is all about. That is wickedness at its highest. Our constitution says maturity is as from the age of 18; even at that, we are having babies giving birth to babies. Instead of us to control that, we are trying to add to the problem. I don’t understand the kind of man who is interested in getting married to girls below 18; is he looking for a baby sitter or nanny?
Some people have argued that Senator Hamed Yerima should not have been allowed to lead such campaign because of an underage marriage case.
Yerima has gone away with so many things in this country; he introduced Sharia that took many lives and he ended up making laws in the Senate. It is only in Nigeria that something like this can happen. Personally, I don’t see any reason why Yerima should be going about, even opening his mouth to talk with the kind of killings his actions have wrought in this country. I don’t regard Yerima as a senator who should make laws for this country.
It is argued that those who supported Yerima’s argument are from states that are yet to sign child rights law; what do you think is stopping the states from signing the law?
The politics in Nigeria is becoming very funny; we are no longer interested in the electorate and that is why they make noise about those things that don’t benefit us. There are things that we are looking up to our lawmakers to do that will help us and I don’t know why we are dissipating our energy on things that don’t benefit us.
If CAN should set agenda for the Senate, what would it be?
The masses are suffering and there are no jobs. The youths are suffering with nothing to do. We don’t have electricity, water roads; in fact, we lack everything. Our schools are useless, everything is in a shambles and I expect the lawmakers to spend more time on the things that can help us so that we can elect them next time.
Do you still hold on to the view that the Boko Haram amnesty committee should be disbanded?
You are a journalist following the trend of events in Nigeria; do you think we need that committee? Right from day one, CAN said no because it was going to be a wasteful exercise. Now look at the committee, they are now dribbling us around. The chairman will say one thing today, Shekau will say another thing tomorrow. They told us they had agreed on a ceasefire, Shekau came out to say no. CAN made its views known and clear; we needed something that would address the plights of victims of Boko Haram but the Federal Government went ahead and set up the committee.
Then after, there was the declaration of state of emergency and CAN said the work of the committee should end the moment the emergency was declared. So there was no need to waste taxpayers’ money funding the committee. Now, its chairman has continued to tell us stories but I think we should ask him who is that Shekau or Boko Haram he met with to arrange a ceasefire? Why is he playing on our intelligence? We don’t need that committee again because events have overtaken their usefulness but that is the choice of the government. Let them finish and write their report and I bet you, the report will end up in the same waste basket that others have gone.
READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/41552.html?sub=1&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=local
What is your reaction to the report that Nigeria is under pressure to legalise homosexuality?
Why should Nigeria be under pressure, are we under somebody? Everybody has their own way of living and so no country should import their reckless way of living to our own country. We have our own practice and we can not substitute our values with a value that does not fit our society. Nigeria should not succumb to such a negative pressure; we are a country of ourselves. We have our own rules; we have our own culture and we have our own morals; we have the fear of God. This is a religious country. It is a country where they have no fear of God that would want to usurp God’s order of creation; Nigeria is not ready to abide by that. They can not dictate the way we live our lives; let them live their own lives the way they choose.
There have been some subtle threats that they might withhold grants and aids to the country if Nigeria is adamant.
We can survive without their funds; they are not God. They can not threaten us; if they don’t fund us, we will survive. We cannot forgo our morals because of funds.
But don’t forget that there are also Christians in these countries.
Anybody that is trying to change the biblical order of creation does not know God because in the beginning, God created a man and a woman. If God wanted to create a woman and woman, he would have done it. You know, Christianity in some area has gone liberal where they no longer respect the Bible but they cannot and should not try to dictate to us to go with their morals. We have our own morals; we are a country of our own. Just because they are helping us, they should not dictate to that level to us. They can do that to their own people because the Bible is very clear that the original plan of God is man and woman, not otherwise. No one can change that one and so, no one should come with a perverted view of himself, of his political agenda and try to impose it on us because he is helping us. We say no.
But they are saying that the gays too have their own rights
Any fundamental human right that is against God’s ordained plan for the family is not a human right. God says it is man and woman, no one can change it. If they have the right that they claim, why do they plan to adopt children? Let them give birth to children.
Is homosexuality a sickness or just a way of life?
Anybody who is homosexual indicates that something definitely is wrong with their head because it is against God’s ordained order for the family. Any homosexual is sick in the head; I have no apology about that.
What is your view about the Senate resolution concerning the age for a girl to be married; what is the ideal age for a girl to get married?
I don’t really understand why that should be a matter of debate if they really understand the meaning of marriage. How can they take a little girl and say she is married? We are losing the meaning of marriage; can they do that to their own daughters? Our girls should not be subjected to that kind of treatment; how can you say a girl of 9, 10, 13 is ripe for marriage? I pray that our lawmakers will reason and make sure we don’t go that path because it is a path of destruction. The child of that age is still a baby. There is sex in marriage, how do you have sex with such a little girl? You break her; you tear her apart. You destroy the joy of marriage in her and she will grow up thinking that is what marriage is all about. That is wickedness at its highest. Our constitution says maturity is as from the age of 18; even at that, we are having babies giving birth to babies. Instead of us to control that, we are trying to add to the problem. I don’t understand the kind of man who is interested in getting married to girls below 18; is he looking for a baby sitter or nanny?
Some people have argued that Senator Hamed Yerima should not have been allowed to lead such campaign because of an underage marriage case.
Yerima has gone away with so many things in this country; he introduced Sharia that took many lives and he ended up making laws in the Senate. It is only in Nigeria that something like this can happen. Personally, I don’t see any reason why Yerima should be going about, even opening his mouth to talk with the kind of killings his actions have wrought in this country. I don’t regard Yerima as a senator who should make laws for this country.
It is argued that those who supported Yerima’s argument are from states that are yet to sign child rights law; what do you think is stopping the states from signing the law?
The politics in Nigeria is becoming very funny; we are no longer interested in the electorate and that is why they make noise about those things that don’t benefit us. There are things that we are looking up to our lawmakers to do that will help us and I don’t know why we are dissipating our energy on things that don’t benefit us.
If CAN should set agenda for the Senate, what would it be?
The masses are suffering and there are no jobs. The youths are suffering with nothing to do. We don’t have electricity, water roads; in fact, we lack everything. Our schools are useless, everything is in a shambles and I expect the lawmakers to spend more time on the things that can help us so that we can elect them next time.
Do you still hold on to the view that the Boko Haram amnesty committee should be disbanded?
You are a journalist following the trend of events in Nigeria; do you think we need that committee? Right from day one, CAN said no because it was going to be a wasteful exercise. Now look at the committee, they are now dribbling us around. The chairman will say one thing today, Shekau will say another thing tomorrow. They told us they had agreed on a ceasefire, Shekau came out to say no. CAN made its views known and clear; we needed something that would address the plights of victims of Boko Haram but the Federal Government went ahead and set up the committee.
Then after, there was the declaration of state of emergency and CAN said the work of the committee should end the moment the emergency was declared. So there was no need to waste taxpayers’ money funding the committee. Now, its chairman has continued to tell us stories but I think we should ask him who is that Shekau or Boko Haram he met with to arrange a ceasefire? Why is he playing on our intelligence? We don’t need that committee again because events have overtaken their usefulness but that is the choice of the government. Let them finish and write their report and I bet you, the report will end up in the same waste basket that others have gone.
READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/41552.html?sub=1&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=local
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