Lawyer, others urge FG to withdraw from Samoa agreement

A lawyer and chairman of the Human and Constitutional Rights Committee of the African Bar Association (AfBA), Sonnie Ekwowusi and a coalition of Nigerian Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) under the Foundation for Cultural Heritage (FACH) have called on the Federal Government (FG) to withdraw from the Samoa pact, describing it as a harmful deal for Nigeria.

They also urged the government to halt the surrogacy and pandemic treaty. The groups argued that the agreement, signed by Nigeria and other African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries, contained provisions that contradict Nigeria’s cultural values, laws, and sovereignty.

The coalition includes Family Action Africa, Project for Human Development (PHD), Global Pro-life Alliance (GPA), Doctors Health Initiative, and Happy Home Foundation, among others.

At a world press conference held in Lagos, FACH urged the FG to push for a reservation clause. The clause, the groups said, would ensure that “nothing or no term in the agreement shall be construed as promoting LGBT, same-sex marriage, comprehensive sexuality education, abortion, and transgenderism in countries that have signed the agreement.”

Ekwowusi highlighted specific provisions in the agreement that allegedly contravene Nigeria’s Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act of 2014 and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

He cited Article 36(2), which states: “The Parties commit to the full and effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, and the outcomes of their review conferences and commit to sexual and reproductive health and rights.”

Article 97 of the Agreement states that: “No treaty, convention, agreement or arrangement of any kind between one or more member States of the European Union and one or more OACPS Members shall impede the implementation of this Agreement.”

The lawyer explained that the agreement is superior to any treaty, convention or further agreement. Ekwowusi argued that these clauses impose external values on Nigeria and undermine its sovereignty by making African nations accountable to the European Union (EU).

Convener of Parental Care Initiative for Future Leadership, Mrs Omoye Olaye argued that Western brainwashing starts in our schools.She lamented that the Nigerian school curriculum is regurgitating what the colonial masters want the children to believe, as they have colonised our education system.

“We want something that reflects our past, that tells us about our present and gives us hope for the aspirations that we have for tomorrow. Our curriculum is not doing that. We have a lot of children who come out of secondary school, without any skill, and so, have nothing to offer the society, she decried.

The Chief Executive Officer, Eveh’s Social Care Foundation, Jacinta Akuchinyere Adeyemi lamented that a bill seeking to regulate the practice of Surrogacy has passed the second reading at the House of Representatives in Abuja.

She explained that a surrogate is someone taking out someone’s egg, someone’s sperm, putting it in someone and paying the person to carry the pregnancy. Surrogacy, she said, infringes on the right of marriage and families, and destabilises marriages.

“Surrogacy is illegal in Nigeria under sections 17(3)(h), 21, 33, 37, and 38 of the 1999 Constitution; section 30 of the Child Rights Act; Sections 13, 21, 82 of Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act (TIPPEA Act),” she said.

A Gynecologist, Dr Obielumani Ideh, while speaking on the Pandemic Treaty, said it aimed at giving the World Health Organisation (WHO) enormous powers to dictate and impose obnoxious health policies on nations in the event of a new pandemic.

“The pandemic treaty also gives the WHO authority to decide how and which medical supplies are distributed when they decide there is a pandemic.

“These medical supplies can range from vaccines to abortion kits or contraceptives since no exhaustive terminology is used. These products are also distributed via stakeholders which the WHO deems relevant, which include stakeholders that promote the controversial sexual and reproductive health and rights,” Ideh said. She called on the FG to oppose the treaty as it fails to address the significant harms caused by the previous pandemic response measures.

According to her, lockdown, mask mandates and rushed vaccines, resulted in widespread social and health-related damages. She also stated that the introduction of the proposed pathogen access and benefits sharing system would incentivise risky gain-of-function research, basically doing research to make viruses more deadly, therefore increasing the likelihood of true pandemics rather than actually reducing the likelihood of them happening.