Killing homosexuals, marrying under aged girls

Issues like this confuse Nigerians and the pursuit of democracy and pluralism. I have no problem with adults doing what they want in private.

Unfortunately, the LGBT group have taken the offensive to attack anybody who does not fully accept their vision of life. Having cornered the main street news media by infiltrating it thoroughly, LGBT now has taken up the cause of same-sex marriage, (whatever that means).

The Journalists in the mainstream media have added a series of increasingly acerbic demands for what is described as the now acceptable inclusive programme.

There is an unstated assertion that the law in our books is Christian or at least not Islamic. But the same view was held by Christians up to the end of the last century.

On a purely superficial level, there are many things which the Christian Bible forbids but people practice them regardless; there are also many things which the Quran and commentaries forbid which today are a common currency in Islamic countries.

The anomaly in Nigeria is the presence of Sharia courts which must be obeyed to abide by the Islamic judges’ rule. But stoning to death is a bit too harsh even in back wood Bauchi. No one stones anyone to death for stealing.

Nobody should be stoned to death in 2022 for being a homosexual. What would happen if the U.S. sent a consul to Bauchi who is gay and operated openly as such? In two days would a word be sent to the U.S. to remove its consul. But some homosexuality is not a single-person activity, would the consenting Bauchi be stoned to death?

Moral questions are always difficult for regimes that have elevated moral preference into law. What would happen to a lesbian woman in Bauchi?

What really is the Sharia court system doing in our constitution? Why is the Oba of Benin not given the right to impose Benin morality as law? I know people will get upset and damn me for attempting to compare Benin law to Sharia law.

There are other heavier responsibilities placed on Muslims which do not exist in the constitution and where they exist they are unacceptable. Blasphemy is not confined to Islam, yet when a woman sang the praises of Jesus in Kano she was murdered and her Vagina cut open? Which part of any religion allows the abrogation of the liberty to say “Praise Jesus”.

It is no use my saying this because I am not a Muslim but I have read the Quran over five times and these exogenous issues are not the bedrock of the religion. The usual excuse is that Islam is a way of life, and Christianity is about morals as distinct from the way of life. It is further postulated that obedience to the Quran is obligatory. This may well be true but the world has moved from when Quran was written. Education is now openly adopted for men and In Islamic countries (except for the Taliban in Afghanistan). We admire systems in Dubai, Abu-Dhabi, Qatar, Azerbaijan Saudi Arabia, where women pilots, women astronauts etc display their profession with dexterity.

The punishment for theft in the Quran is chopping off the hand. I should imagine we should see many one-handed men and women In the Senate, Government houses, ex Governors Etc. But there are none. So there is a selective application in the administration of Justice as called for by the Quran.

The Nigerian constitution stipulates that canal knowledge of a girl below 16 is punishable by 14 years imprisonment, except if the girl is Muslim, below 16 and has the parent’s approval for marriage.

Dr. Cole, OFR, is Nigeria’s former Ambassador to Brazil and Argentina.