Nigeria should call for a vote on sexual orientation at the United Nations, writes Sonnie Ekwowusi
A revolutionary Resolution is about to be adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in New York City next week. The resolution is to establish for the first time in the history of the United Nations that “sexual orientation” and “gender identity”, that is, Lesbianism, Gay, Bi-sexualism, Trangenderism, Queer behaviour, Intersex, and others (LGBTQ1+) are UN consensus terms. Unless Nigeria, perceived and respected as a big African player in diplomatic circles and at the United Nations, calls for a vote on the resolution in order to strike down the offensive “sexual orientation and gender identity” the terms will become UN consensus terms.
The human race at the moment is engaged in a race against time, a race to rescue humanity from complete ruin. It is not just the quality of life that is being threatened, but life itself. The saddest aspect is that the dreams of many are empty. So where do we go from here? As this turbulent 21st Century comes to an end, mankind is poised at a crossroads: in one direction lies the possibility of unprecedented prosperity for all, but in another direction lies self-annihilation in the face of conscious efforts, or, if you like, the diabolic efforts, to obliterate the natural and biological differences between a man and a woman in the name of so-called “sexual orientation and gender identity”. So winning the human race is the challenge facing men and women of our contemporary society. It is either we get it right and continue to live in this world or get it wrong and perish. This is the dilemma faced by modern man today.
You may be aware that the aforesaid offensive UN Resolution was adopted by the Third Committee of the UN Economic and Social Council on November 18, 2021 under the euphemistic or dodgy title: “Strengthening the role of the United Nations in the promotion of democratization and enhancing periodic and genuine elections” (A/C.3/76/L.45/Rev.1). Sponsored by Joe Biden’s United States, this resolution was used by the U.S. to force or impose LGBTQ1+ on all delegations. Despite repeated requests by multiple UN delegations to remove the references to LGBT Q1+ and “women in all their diversity” from the text, the U.S. refused to remove the references knowing fully well that it would be politically difficult for any country to call for a vote on the resolution, since that would be susceptible to false claims that the country is against free and fair elections. You can see how the United States is craftily or deviously forcing LGBTQ1+ down the throats of unwilling nations under the pretext of promoting democratization process and “enhancing periodic and genuine elections”. What is LGBTQ1+ doing in election resolution? one may ask. This is why Nigeria must call for a vote on the resolution in order to remove the strange term.
Although the Nigerian delegation had proposed two amendments on behalf of many other delegations to remove the LGBTQ1+ terms from the elections resolution as they are unacceptable concepts that violate Nigeria’s laws and represent an assault on women, marriage, and the Nigerian family, but, unfortunately, the votes on these amendments were both lost, and the controversial references to LGBTQ1+ still remain intact. One would have thought that subsequently, the Nigerian delegation should have called for a vote on the entire resolution. Indeed, many less powerful nations were relying on Nigeria to call for a vote on the resolution, yet Nigeria was silent during the adoption and only made a statement after it was adopted. It is feared that the U.S. is pressuring Nigeria not to call for a vote on the resolution. You will recall that the U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken was in Nigeria during the critical time when this election’s resolution was proposed for adoption at the UN, and it is believed that he came to Nigeria to put undue pressure on our Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to stop Nigeria from calling for a vote on the resolution. This interference of the U.S. government in Nigeria’s affairs is an assault on Nigeria’s sovereignty and religious and cultural values. Nigeria is a sovereign nation. We have a right as a sovereign nation to decide for ourselves the ideologies we need to embrace for our own good.
Nigeria should reject anything which compromises Nigeria’s territorial sovereignty. No foreign country has a right to dictate to us the way we should run our country. The attitude of the United States in imposing LGTBQI+ on African countries, Nigeria inclusive, is sadly reminiscent of the sentiments of superiority that led to centuries-old slavery and the emasculation of black people world over. It is a sentiment of white supremacy based on the idea that since the black man is not capable of rational, positive, value-driven thinking, the U.S. and other countries should think for him. This narrative is confirmed in the words of Nafiz Sadik, the former executive director of the United Nations Fund for Population activities (UNFPA) who once said, “If culture and tradition are invoked to block change, and we hear this all the time, then culture and tradition must give way.” But the pertinent question remains: whose culture and tradition? And most importantly, who gets to define and make a value judgment on such cultures and traditions. Is the U.S.? I don’t think so.
Therefore Nigeria must reject the pressure from the United States and do the right thing by calling for a vote on the entire election resolution next week (even if there is only one vote against the resolution it will substantially weaken it). UN Resolutions bind upon consensus. Only one vote is capable of defeating a Resolution. Therefore the Nigerian delegation is respectfully urged to call for a vote on the Resolution at the United Nations General Assembly next week so that the aforesaid offensive terms: “women in all their diversity” and “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” (that is, LGBTQ1+ terms) do not achieve consensus at the UN. After all, Nigeria and some other African countries have outlawed LGBTQ1+ within their respective territorial sovereignties. Besides, the term “women in all their diversity” has never been adopted in a United Nations General Assembly Resolution. While the term “sexual orientation and gender identity” did appear previously in a United Nations Resolution in the context of extrajudicial killings in contrast to this elections resolution, that resolution was voted and therefore it cannot be considered consensual.
While it is appreciated that Nigeria made a strong statement after the adoption of the resolution by the Third Committee on November 18, 2021 and disassociated herself from that reference to LGBTQ1+ terms, that singular action does stop the LGBTQ1+ from becoming UN consensus language. Happily it is not too late for Nigeria to remedy things. Come next week Nigeria must call for a vote on the entire resolution in order to prevent these LGBTQ1+ terms from being mainstreamed throughout UN policies and programs and used to pressure Nigeria again and again to capitulate to the LGBT agenda in subsequent UN Resolutions. We therefore call upon our government to stand up to the cultural imperialism of the West and specifically of the U.S., which is constantly trying to impose a harmful LGBT agenda on our people. Nigeria must do the right thing and call for a vote on the election’s resolution next week.
