A Christian group, National Prayer Altar, has urged the National Assembly to enact legislation that would proscribe 14-year jail term for cross-dressers

While lamenting the increasing rate of ‘sodomy’ and sexual perversion in the country, the organisation also implored the Federal Government to strengthen legislation against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ).

It maintained that anyone, who publicly supports the practice, should be arrested and prosecuted.

Addressing journalists at a press conference, the Coordinator of National Prayer Altar (NPA), Pastor Bosun Emmanuel, said the production of any material, be it film, video, or publication, that promotes LGBTQ, should be considered for prosecution under the proposed law.

Meanwhile, the Foundation for Cultural Heritage (FACH) has called on the Federal Government to reject the neo-colonial policies, it described as a harmful deal for Nigeria.

The coalition urged the government to halt the three major pacts – Samoa Agreement, 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.

At a press conference in Lagos, FACH urged government to either withdraw from the agreement or 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 trans-genderism in countries that have signed the agreement.”

A lawyer and chairman of the Human and Constitutional Rights Committee of the African Bar Association (AfBA), Sonnie Ekwowusi, highlighted specific provisions in the pact that allegedly contravenes 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, in that context.”

Convener of Parental Care Initiative for Future Leadership, Mrs Omoye Olaye, said the school curriculum was regurgitating what the colonial masters wanted the children to believe.

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

A gynaecologist, Dr Obielumani Ideh, while speaking on the pandemic treaty, claimed that the pact was to unnecessarily empower the World Health Organisation (WHO) to dictate and impose obnoxious health policies on nations in the event of a new pandemic.