Saatah Nubari: It’s Just 14 years, You Can Do It

By Saatah Nubari

This is probably the third time I’ve opened my PC to share my opinion on the anti-gay bill; and two times I’ve had put it back after starring at the blank Word screen for minutes. But today is different; I’ve done the more difficult task of reading the opinion of the gay proponents without habouring any hate, resentment or grudge towards them. I’ve seen from their point of view, and it is only natural that I try to lend my voice to that of the vast majority of Nigerians who support this law, and, let them also, see from our own point of view without resenting us.

To be truthful, there is nothing reasonable in the argument made by gay proponents that the new law is inhumane and will breach the fundamental rights of those who wish to practice this abhorring act. Let us remember that there’s no part of the new law that states that being gay deprives any individual of his right to life, to associate freely, to speak freely and the rest. This law is simple, too simple not to be understood, and it is even worse when you claim to be an author, literary critic, “intellectual” and yet do not understand this simple and uncomplicated piece of writing.

Nigeria is a very conscious country when it comes to morals. Don’t get me wrong, we are hypocrites! And very good pretenders, but this is different. That 98 percent of the population, both illiterate and literate are not in support of gays cuts a long story short, very short: WE DON’T LIKE IT. The Nigerian legislature should be commended, they’ve learnt something good, they’ve learnt to be pro-active rather than reactive, to prevent rather than to cure. But 2 percent of the population is not happy, and out of this 2 percent, 1 percent can be said to live outside the shores of this country, that’s if not all 2 percent of them live outside the shores of this country in the first place.

I went through the comment thread of one of my friends on Facebook, a literary critic, who’s a gay proponent, and one of the comments was quite hilarious and shallow. This young lady was maybe trying to impress the writer of the post or maybe she was trying to show how learned she was and how the 98 percent of us were stupid, but I think it backfired, without her knowing. She said “This gay bill is cruel and full of shit.
I really love how the world is watching and how people are poking fun, humour and ridicule to Nigeria and the bill. Nonsense. The bill has given us stable light, ended violence, ethnic hate, rape, bombing, looting, etc. Rubbish draconian law. Shity….”I viewed her profile and wasn’t surprised to see her location; she was not even residing in the African continent, even the literary critic too. I don’t blame them, they happen to be a part of the African problem, habouring that strong belief that anything white or not fromAfrica is the best.
Well, I’ll do my best to correct the thought process of the person behind the earlier quoted words. First of all, the gay bill is not cruel and full of shit—the world is. What we have succeeded in doing is making sure that the world doesn’t infect us with this diarrhea and make our country stink of this new menace.
Well, I also love how the world is watching—as a matter of fact they should make sure the put on their 3D glasses so as to have a good viewing pleasure. We have sat for so long, watching, mouth open, as they move the world towards barbarism. They can poke fun at us as long as they want to, we have and will continue to prove to them, despite in small measures, that being a developing nation doesn’t and won’t make us re-enact their mistakes and folly.
To the very “intelligent”, “intellectual” and “concerned” Nigerians who share the view that the passing of the anti-gay bill into law has not given us stable light, ended violence, stopped ethnic hate, stopped rape, stopped bombings and stopped lootings, let me be quick to remind you that not passing the anti-gay bill won’t still give you the stable power, end the bombings, end rape and so, move on. Well, as for those of us who think the new law is draconian, be kind enough to understand that for every barbaric act, there should be an accompanying draconian law to stem it—that should be the Nigerian law of motion? Never mind.
I will want to point out that I am not in support of the lynching of gays, neither do I hate gays, I just happen to detest what they practice, which is not in conformity with my religion.
I’ll continue to say that being a “developing” nation is good; we have the chance to not make the same mistakes that the “developed” nations made. And the fact that we somehow look up to them in some aspects, this shouldn’t be taken for weakness and shouldn’t lead to arm twisting. Colonization ended more than 50 years ago for us and trying to force us to accept what we don’t want to accept won’t be possible. To the 2 percent of Nigerians who think we are backward, stupid and inhumane because we WON’T support the act of being gay, well, I’ll accept those adjectives if they are just synonyms for being civilized, African and above all, sensible.
Shakespeare said “Hell is empty, the devils are here”. I think he made a mistake; he might have been trying to say that “Hell is empty, gays are here”. To all the gay proponents out there, I’m not mad that you’ve decided to support an abhorring act as this. I just wish your parents were gay. And to all you pro-gay Nigerians, who want to garner attention from this, keep it up. Don’t just tweet, Facebook and write articles from the US or Europe, come to Nigeria and carry a placard, after all it’s just ten years in Kuje or Kirikiri—and just so you know, they don’t have TV or air conditioners there.

Written by Saatah Nubari follow on Twitter @Saatah