The federal government has raised alarmed about false LGBTQ+ agreement claims by Islamic preachers, assuring President Bola Tinubu won’t approve any agreement conflicting with Nigerian values and cultures.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris and his Budget and National Planning counterpart, Atiku Bagudu, addressed a press conference in Abuja where they insisted that Nigeria never signed any protocol that seeks to advance LGBTQ+ agenda in the country.
Idris said that following the report in a national daily (not Tribune), Ulamas started to use it in their Friday sermons to castigate government.
He said President Bola Tinubu will never approve the signing of any agreement that contradicts the values and cultures of the Nigerian people.
The minister cautioned against media publication that continued to advance the erroneous narrative that the Samoa Agreement recently signed by the federal government was to promote the LGBTQ+ agenda in the country.
Vowing to take drag the affected media outfits before the Nigerian Newspaper Proprietors of Nigeria (NPAN), the government’s spokesman said attempts to incite the public will not be tolerated.
However, he assured that the Tinubu administration will not trample on press freedom.
In his remarks, Bagudu emphasized that what Nigeria signed was the “Partnership Agreement between the European Union and its Members States, of the one part, and Members of the Organization of the Caribbean and Pacific States, of the other part,” which he vehemently denied had anything to do with the LGBTQ+ rights.
He stressed that Nigeria’s signing of agreement was accompanied by a declaration clarifying its understanding of it.
The budget and national planning minister explained that the agreement Nigeria signed contained 103 foundational articles and 79 African region specific protocols, “non or which offends our laws.”
According to him, it contains no LGBTQ+ rights or any agreement indicating that Nigeria support LGBTQ rights.
“Anything we sign must be in tandem with our constitution and laws. Anything beyond that is null and void.
Tinubu respects Nigeria’s sensitivity and diversity and will never approve anything that will be seen as damaging our sensitivity,” he said.
Bagudu further said that the agreement signed by Nigeria was for for cooperation, stressing that “President Bola Tinubu did not authorize anything that is damaging or hurtful to our sensitivity and we have not signed any such agreement.”
Details to come later….
