http://www.punchng.com/index.php/news/item/8392-cleric-faults-soyinka-over-same-sex-marriage

The Prelate of the Methodist Church Nigeria, Dr. Sunday Makinde, has described the criticism of the same-sex marriage bill passed by the Senate by Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, as unfortunate and regrettable.



In a statement in Lagos on Tuesday by the church’s Media and Public Relations Officer, Rev. Oladapo Daramola, the cleric said the comment credited to the Soyinka was "an attempt to psychologically bully the lawmakers into taking an unpopular decision and to give approval to an unreligious and noncultural act."
Makinde said such attempt would be resisted by those who believed in sanity and the sanctity of marriage as ordained by God.

He said, "His comment is an affront to our socio-cultural and religious values which I find as highly unfortunate. When people look up to us as role models in the society, we must see it as a public trust which must be guarded jealously.

"I urge members of the National Assembly not to be dissuaded by this kind of comments and insults hauled on them by Professor Wole Soyinka; rather, they should base their actions on the clamour by a majority of Nigerians which is overwhelmingly against same sex marriage.

"He should apologise to the legislators for telling them to go back to school. Let me ask: is Prof. Soyinka or any of the advocates a product of same-sex marriage? I wonder if the conventional marriage has not been upheld as passed down by our fathers, how many of those who are proponents of this ‘evil’ agenda will be in this world today."

Makinde added, "The question we should also ask people like Soyinka is how many countries in the world have legally recognised same-sex marriage? Only 10. Even the same United States government that is castigating the Nigerian government has not accepted this nationally.

"Just like Mexico, it operates in some jurisdictions in the US. So why must westernisation becloud our civilisation? Civilisation becomes abused when conventional wisdom is condemned to the whims and caprices of westernization. We will strongly resist this madness."

Makinde said it was important to note that the 10 countries that embraced same-sex marriage did it for political reason and not based on moral convictions.

ride on!. tell that mudafackin coward who was given a western nobel that he aint worth 2 cents of my village honour!

Abeg free gay people dey be human like us.

I will support ga.y the day I will see a cock hump another cock or if my BIBLE is not against it. Right now, to me ga.y SHOULD NOT even been allowed to start in a private room because even fire starts in a private room before bringing down the whole house.

Make Soyinka go bk church first b4 im talk. Ode'!

That man is a coon and a sell-out

in my opinion, he is wrong.

What I don't understand is this,' it ok to fornicate, it's fine to be adulterous, it's permissive to be a bigamist but to be gay is sin. Who determines what?

Personally, I think if you'd class gay as an issue, then all others should as well.

We all have a right to be what we choose to be.

Some people mask peadophilia with different mask including religion, and it's perfectly ok to turn a blind eye?

I'm personally tired of this pick and choose kind of justice. I wish the nation all the best.

I dont think I will be outta place to say  on this point, is  TrASH, THE Problem wiv academics, thinking the know all and all, Nobel Laurate my ass, why dint he do gay and praise it.

The man has talked outta line seriously because if our own so called heroes dnt see wrong and they dont see fault in their trash talks he should relocate or ask his parents if what he said is right at all.

I mean u sure soyinka come from 9ja? This has passed human rights o!

Old age is catching up with him. Soyinka has lost relevance.

Personally why do we condemn fornication, I mean afterall it is a personal thing afterall.

dawg7o:

What I don't understand is this,' it ok to fornicate, it's fine to be adulterous, it's permissive to be a bigamist but to be gay is sin. Who determines what?

Personally, I think if you'd class gay as an issue, then all others should as well.

We all have a right to be what we choose to be.

Some people mask peadophilia with different mask including religion, and it's perfectly ok to turn a blind eye?

I'm personally tired of this pick and choose kind of justice. I wish the nation all the best.

i agree with what your point. bad is bad and homosexuality is one of the bad things we need to get rid of in Nigeria

Will this story ever die a natural death? Everyday it's man lover this or that. It's not possible for everyone to agree on the thing and it dosen't need to degenerate into name calling. How about we move on to banning embazzling and all the other vices in the society but I guess embazzling is a part of the Nigerian culture anyway so they won't bother with that maybe they can move on to banning mini skirts and in fact 20yrs imprisonment for all those caught, lmao at nation of hypocrites

kafero:

Old age is catching up with him. Soyinka has lost relevance.

I second! He has lost it 4 real.

This pastor is one hell of a dirty freak. My friend!!! Nothing is wrong in SOYINKA analysis. Why dont the pastor go against muslims and say its wrong for a man to marry 4wifes since it does not go wit the bible? What his business with peoples personal life affair? Religion as well as Marriage is a personal affair. The government have no right, i repeat no right to intrude into one personal agenda neither does the pastor. If MR a decides to marry same - sex Mr B thats their business not ours. They both agreed to it. So why intrude? If your religion says sacrifise people and your followers are willing to abide by it then since its your followers there is nothing wrong. SOYINKA has said the truth NIGERIAN law makers needs to know d discrepancy between personal and public issues. And so should not intefere in peoples personal life. And you all should note SOYINKA is not in support of GAY but hez against the punishment by the Federal government. When last did the federal government see a man on the street and say u take this go get your marriage done? If you all are based on soyinkas statement religiously wrong. Then you all should go correct your damn niffty religion and mind your business and not dabble into others religious belief. If you say we are africans and his statement is wrong then you all should go correct your damn niffty traditions. Exhibited in the south eastern part of nigeria. The south south and south west in emphasis even the north. Abeg spare my MODEL a break and u all mind ur business. Am no gay just sayin u should learn to see pples personal affairs and respect it

tatiana009:

Will this story ever die a natural death? Everyday it's man lover this or that. It's not possible for everyone to agree on the thing

ask humans like wole tsup' as long as idiots keep supporting the gay thing, I wil be on hand to ask them why they go to church or in this case why u don't evn go to church yet u want a vast majority of people who do so to listen to his pentametric folktale of shit.

Ymodulus:

This pastor is one hell of a dirty freak. My friend!!! Nothing is wrong in SOYINKA analysis. Why dont the pastor go against muslims and say its wrong for a man to marry 4wifes since it does not go wit the bible? What his business with peoples personal life affair? Religion as well as Marriage is a personal affair. The government have no right, i repeat no right to intrude into one personal agenda neither does the pastor. If MR a decides to marry same - sex Mr B thats their business not ours. They both agreed to it. So why intrude? If your religion says sacrifise people and your followers are willing to abide by it then since its your followers there is nothing wrong. SOYINKA has said the truth NIGERIAN law makers needs to know d discrepancy between personal and public issues. And so should not intefere in peoples personal life. And you all should note SOYINKA is not in support of GAY but hez against the punishment by the Federal government. When last did the federal government see a man on the street and say u take this go get your marriage done? If you all are based on soyinkas statement religiously wrong. Then you all should go correct your damn niffty religion and mind your business and not dabble into others religious belief. If you say we are africans and his statement is wrong then you all should go correct your damn niffty traditions. Exhibited in the south eastern part of nigeria. The south south and south west in emphasis even the north. Abeg spare my MODEL a break and u all mind your business. Am no gay just sayin u should learn to see pples personal affairs and respect it

you took these words right from my mouth. I never expected anything different from what pa soyinka said. this is one out of numerous tests that distinguish a religious bigot from an intellectual. Boko Haram is also fighting a just cause then, they are trying to obey what their religion says as well.

This pastor is one hell of a dirty freak. My friend!!! Nothing is wrong in SOYINKA analysis. Why dont the pastor go against muslims and say its wrong for a man to marry 4wifes since it does not go wit the bible? What his business with peoples personal life affair? Religion as well as Marriage is a personal affair. The government have no right, i repeat no right to intrude into one personal agenda neither does the pastor. If MR a decides to marry same - sex Mr B thats their business not ours. They both agreed to it. So why intrude? If your religion says sacrifise people and your followers are willing to abide by it then since its your followers there is nothing wrong. SOYINKA has said the truth NIGERIAN law makers needs to know d discrepancy between personal and public issues. And so should not intefere in peoples personal life. And you all should note SOYINKA is not in support of GAY but hez against the punishment by the Federal government. When last did the federal government see a man on the street and say u take this go get your marriage done? If you all are based on soyinkas statement religiously wrong. Then you all should go correct your damn niffty religion and mind your business and not dabble into others religious belief. If you say we are africans and his statement is wrong then you all should go correct your damn niffty traditions. Exhibited in the south eastern part of nigeria. The south south and south west in emphasis even the north. Abeg spare my MODEL a break and u all mind your business. Am no gay just sayin u should learn to see pples personal affairs and respect it

Mister I think you've allowed western television to cloud your brain, Africa must learn 2 hold on to certain aspects of their traditions otherwise we would be in more chaos than the western countries or Europeans. HOMOSEXUALITY is wrong, the two most credible religion oppose it, so why are we beating around the bush. If we should allow homosexuality then we might as well allow all the vices that comes with it, such as cross dressing, disease and the complete breakdown of the family system. SOYINKA is nothing but an irrelevant old man whose days are well beyond him. This is one case that I'm glad the government has the balls to stand up for what is right!

abbey621:

Mister I think you've allowed western television to cloud your brain, Africa must learn 2 hold on to certain aspects of their traditions otherwise we would be in more chaos than the western countries or Europeans. HOMOSEXUALITY is wrong, the two most credible religion oppose it, so why are we beating around the bush. If we should allow homosexuality then we might as well allow all the vices that comes with it, such as cross dressing, disease and the complete breakdown of the family system. SOYINKA is nothing but an irrelevant old man whose days are well beyond him. This is one case that I'm glad the government has the balls to stand up for what is right!

my friend how do you judge a religion been credible? You say am affected by the white mentality. Why dont you drop been a christian or muslim and go back to worship what your great fore fathers did in the past? After all these religion were brought in by same white people you go against today. Also you saying religion goes against so making it wrong is totally ridiculous. Are the gay christians or muslims? Y force your religious beliefs on them? Y dont u say since boko haram kill and islam is credible then you should kill too?!. Your arguement as got no base. Am sorry to say but thats the truth. Dont use your religion on others. Its your business not theirs. They ave d right to listen to you if they like. neva u forget that this people called gays are not kids. also i expect to see you killin people hu goes to church cuz islam does not side christianity. And i also expect a muslim to do so. You saw nothing wrong with bigamy, prostitution, fornication and rape u went to gayism? Are you sane?

my friend how do you judge a religion been credible? You say am affected by the white mentality. Why dont you drop been a christian or muslim and go back to worship what your great fore fathers did in the past? After all these religion were brought in by same white people you go against today. Also you saying religion goes against so making it wrong is totally ridiculous. Are the gay christians or muslims? Y force your religious beliefs on them? Y dont u say since boko haram kill and islam is credible then you should kill too?!. Your arguement as got no base. Am sorry to say but thats the truth. Dont use your religion on others. Its your business not theirs. They ave d right to listen to you if they like. neva u forget that this people called gays are not kids. also i expect to see you killin people hu goes to church cuz islam does not side christianity. And i also expect a muslim to do so. You saw nothing wrong with bigamy, prostitution, fornication and violation u went to gayism? Are you sane?

Why can't people use their common sense for once instead of making false comparisons, there's no where in the Quran that said, "murder the innocent, violate their females and burn their houses", there's no where in the Quran that said, "force Islam on your neighbors and if they refuse slaughter them like pigs". Boko Haram is just like any other terrorist group like Al-Queda, M.E.N.D and others, all of them have no religious justification and will meet their doom one way or the other. If you read my comment earlier, you would notice I said certain aspects of our tradition, but all you picked from that was sango and other deities? You need to open your mind and stop looking at things from one side, it seriously undermines your intellectual reasoning. Africa has already been through enough, poverty, disease and mental collapse, why add homosexuality to its complications, how do you explain to a kid, that his uncle his married to another man or that your neighbor's wife is a man, why put our society through the same crap that's affecting society in the western world. I live in the United States I've seen what the horrors of a misguided society can do to the value of a family. Kids are screwed from the start, parents can't discipline their kids because they have no sense of morality, the government allowed so much crap now it's coming back to bite them. If we allow Homosexuality then it will be the end of us, the one thing that makes the western world jealous of us, is our rich and strong sense of culture, if we throw that away then what exactly do we have left?

if you say homosexuals are bieng themselves.
then govt should allow armed roober to express themselves, Bok haram to express themselve.

note the only thing that will ever make man civilised is morality.

this does not even happen in the animal kingdom.

what is the world turining into. remeber sodom actually legalised this practice before t

Ymodulus:

This pastor is one hell of a dirty freak. My friend!!! Nothing is wrong in SOYINKA analysis. Why dont the pastor go against muslims and say its wrong for a man to marry 4wifes since it does not go wit the bible? What his business with peoples personal life affair? Religion as well as Marriage is a personal affair. The government have no right, i repeat no right to intrude into one personal agenda neither does the pastor. If MR a decides to marry same - sex Mr B thats their business not ours. They both agreed to it. So why intrude? If your religion says sacrifise people and your followers are willing to abide by it then since its your followers there is nothing wrong. SOYINKA has said the truth NIGERIAN law makers needs to know d discrepancy between personal and public issues. And so should not intefere in peoples personal life. And you all should note SOYINKA is not in support of GAY but hez against the punishment by the Federal government. When last did the federal government see a man on the street and say u take this go get your marriage done? If you all are based on soyinkas statement religiously wrong. Then you all should go correct your damn niffty religion and mind your business and not dabble into others religious belief. If you say we are africans and his statement is wrong then you all should go correct your damn niffty traditions. Exhibited in the south eastern part of nigeria. The south south and south west in emphasis even the north. Abeg spare my MODEL a break and u all mind your business. Am no gay just sayin u should learn to see pples personal affairs and respect it

h

it is also personal affair for robbers to express themselves and all their likes.

note; the only thing that makes us civilsed is our morality once that is gone we will end up rebuilding sodom and gomorah. they legalised homosexuality and got toasted in return.

men save our country from hail storm our fire service is not working oohhhhhh

if God says no who are you to say yes.

if you are gay don't stay gay try jesus. this is the only man to man relationship that is accepted by God

thanks

Human beings have no right to choose their sexual orientation. It is ingrained in our makeup by an intelligence far higher than ours that we cannot even attain.

If you had a right, you might as well have chosen your sex while you were a fetus. Doesn't it baffle and awe you the art of creation?

Since an overwhelming majority of Nigerians regrettably are against rights of homosexuals, the passing of this anti-gay bill is an attempt by Jonathan and our officials to score dirt cheap political points with the Nigerian electorate. And judging from the support Jonathan has received by signing this bill into law, he has undoubtedly succeeded in doing so.

The most unfortunate part of this bill is that despite pressing issues affecting our country, i.e., inadequate electricity and dilapidated roads, among others, it is disrespectful to the Nigerian electorate that passing an anti-gay bill has been prioritized over other issues. He who has ears, the elders say, let him ear.

@mamacho. Did you read my statement well. Did you just carried a surface information or a deductive logical inferences. Read it again and you will see i say as long as the two agrees to do so thats their business. If a thieve and the owner of the property agrees. And the thief went away with his property then there's nothing wrong its not stealing. But agreement to the contract signed. I wish you read law. My friend stop talking about civilised and homosexuality. Why dont you go against prostitutes? Or because you feel dey wont undo your gomorrah? Y dont you go against bigamy? Dont u tink is so heartless for a man to marry 4wifes divorce dem as he likes without any compensation? Is dat also not stupidity against your bible? Come on be logical. My PhIlosophy lecturer would always say " i wish we humans understand what it means to be logical , neutral the world wud have been better". Pls next arguement

@Princek12,

Rising from the Commonwealth summit, and the disposition of both the British and US (more recently) governments to associate aid with recognition of gay rights, I would say it became an emergent priority to immediately tell the whole world what our stand was regarding the anti-nature act.

True, there are other pressing issues. But those issues cannot be handled by mere legislation alone. We all know that we want electricity and good infrastructure and there can be no debate on that.

Shoyinka is totally wrong on this issue

abbey621:


Why can't people use their common sense for once instead of making false comparisons, there's no where in the Quran that said, "murder the innocent, violate their females and burn their houses", there's no where in the Quran that said, "force Islam on your neighbors and if they refuse slaughter them like pigs". Boko Haram is just like any other terrorist group like Al-Queda, M.E.N.D and others, all of them have no religious justification and will meet their doom one way or the other. If you read my comment earlier, you would notice I said certain aspects of our tradition, but all you picked from that was sango and other deities? You need to open your mind and stop looking at things from one side, it seriously undermines your intellectual reasoning. Africa has already been through enough, poverty, disease and mental collapse, why add homosexuality to its complications, how do you explain to a kid, that his uncle his married to another man or that your neighbor's wife is a man, why put our society through the same crap that's affecting society in the western world. I live in the United States I've seen what the horrors of a misguided society can do to the value of a family. Kids are screwed from the start, parents can't discipline their kids because they have no sense of morality, the government allowed so much crap now it's coming back to bite them. If we allow Homosexuality then it will be the end of us, the one thing that makes the western world jealous of us, is our rich and strong sense of culture, if we throw that away then what exactly do we have left?

am so happy the quran neva said you force your pple to her wish also the quran neva said you shud punish people that go against her wish. So why go against gays? My friend you are not reasoning here. Also what strong sense of culture are you talking about? A culture where a woman head is scrape dat she killed her husband? A culture where people are subjected against their personal wish. A culture where a woman is left to wander the street that shez a winch or wateva? A culture with BABArIc beliefs ? You called that a culture been jealous off? If the white needs to learn a culture not a culture like nigerias. Not

I still believe that Wole, get something to do with those living as bi-sexua-l. Maybe he is one of them. You cannot trust such people. Most people who practice that act, are like him. Most of them are rich and famous.

am so happy the quran neva said you force your pple to her wish also the quran neva said you shud punish people that go against her wish. So why go against gays? My friend you are not reasoning here. Also what strong sense of culture are you talking about? A culture where a woman head is scrape dat she killed her husband? A culture where people are subjected against their personal wish. A culture where a woman is left to wander the street that shez a winch or wateva? A culture with BABArIc beliefs ? You called that a culture been jealous off? If the white needs to learn a culture not a culture like nigerias. Not

For a realist, you're not doing a good job of bolstering your points. Why is it that you only see the negative in culture,open your mind, my young friend, talking from experience, my attitude and sense of responsibility are envied by the Americans that i work with, they see the way I talk to my superiors and my posture also when talking in front of my parents, they come to our African parties and see the colourful expressions, they see the sense of family and the passion. They see discipline and a deep sense of morality, all the very essence of our culture and tradition, you see, we never know what we have until it's taken away from us. The blacks in America are lost and clueless today because they have no sense of culture, no form of tradition, if we lose this then what exactly is left. And now to the important discussion, my friend you are obviously clueless about Islam or what is entailed in the Quran, I suggest you leave the Quran out of this and talk about something that you can back up with facts, it's the only way to maintain your credibility.

"He should apologise to the legislators for telling them to go back to school. Let me ask: is Prof. Soyinka or any of the advocates a product of same-sex marriage? I wonder if the conventional marriage has not been upheld as passed down by our fathers, how many of those who are proponents of this ‘evil’ agenda will be in this world today."

Most of Soyinka's agenda is evil anyway.The only constructive thing he has ever done is to write tales - and only in english.

I laugh because if the reports of pe'dophile Priests, Gay Bishops and transexual clergymen is anything to go by, soon Churches would be holding crusades to kill all opponents of same-s'ex marriage and beastiality.