OPINION: Samoa Agreement Will Kill Nigeria

BY SONNIE EKWOWUSI

     Mr Sonnie Ekwuowusi

Nigeria must unsign or withdraw from Samoa  Agreement. Contrary to Minister Bugunda's propaganda, Samoa Agreement IS NOT IN THE INTEREST OF NIGERIA. Why? Articles of the Agreement especially 2.5, 29.5, 36.2, 88, 97, violate Nigeria's laws, Nigeria's sovereignty and African Charter on People's and Human Rights which Nigeria has domesticated,

Executive Summary Of Samoa Agreement 

A  Article 2.5 states:

“The Parties shall systematically promote a gender perspective and ensure that gender equality is mainstreamed across all policies.”

1.     Nigerian delegates who participate in United Nations deliberations will readily attest that the phrase: gender equality is a Trojan horse for deceptively bringing in all sorts of immoralities into a country. In any case, the appropriate word is 'sex' not 'gender'. This is why section 42 (1) of the Nigerian Constitution talks about sex and not gender. Sex means male or female.  Gender connotes homosexuality, lesbianism, tansgenderism and abortions.  Section 42 (1) of the 1999 Constitution stipulates that no citizen of Nigeria should be discriminated against on grounds of his or her sex, ethnic group, place of origin, religion or political opinion. Nothing can be more apt than this. The section protects all women and men from discrimination on ground on their sex, ethnic group, place of origin, religion or political opinion.

2.    But gender is now given a social construct instead of a biological construct. Gender no longer means two sexes – male and female- as we traditionally understand the notion to mean in Nigeria. It now includes homosexualism, lesbianism, transgenderism, animalism etc. So, away with gender equality.

3.  The phrase gender equality is another euphemism for legalization of  homosexuality, lesbianism, tansgenderism and abortion. Why do sponsors of  homosexualism, lesbianism, transgenderism and abortion rights in Nigeria hide under euphemisms and dodgy languages such as gender equality?        

Because the words homosexualism, lesbian transgenderism and abortion are repugnant in Nigerian and African socio-cultural and religious setting, so the sponsors of these things in Nigeria use euphemisms and dodgy words to avoid incurring the wrath of the Nigerian people.

B.  Article 29.5 states:

 “The Parties shall support universal access to sexual   and reproductive health commodities and healthcare services, including for family planning, information                  and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes.”

"Sexual and Reproductive health commodities, health care services and reproductive programmes are nothing but euphemisms for abortion, abortifacients, LGBT services and education, teaching African kids masturbation, erection, touching each others genitals etc in the name of Comprensive Sexuality Education (CSE)

B. Article 36. 1 states:

"The parties acknowledge that gender equality and women's economic empowerment are essential and achievable..." 

Article 36.2 states: 

"The Parties commit to the full and effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population  and Development and the outcomes of their review conferences and commit to sexual and reproductive health and rights, in that context".

Sexual and reproductive health and rights'. The EU on June 22, 2022 defined this phrase to encompass LGBT, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Sexual and reproductive health and rights also means the rights of individuals to have their sexual orientation and gender identity fully respected. EU countries have a nefarious agenda behind the language referring to the outcome documents of the review conferences of ICPD and Beijing. Finally, an advocacy manual funded by the Netherlands reveals this agenda in the following excerpt:

Outcomes of the review conferences: Both the International Conference for Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action and the Beijing Platform for Action have had regional review conferences where progress on implementing these agreements at the regional level was discussed. Importantly, the outcome documents of these review conferences are usually more progressive than those that come out of New York and Geneva, and have even included references to human rights, sexual rights, LGBT rights, safe abortion, and other ‘sensitive’ sexual reproductive human right issues.

Including a reference to the outcomes of these review conferences (or any other more progressive process) means that member states accept these outcomes, and therefore also the progressive language within them. For this reason it is often difficult to keep these references in an outcome document.” (Choice for Youth & Sexuality, “The Advocate’s Guide to UN Language”)

So, any references to outcome documents of review conferences of ICPD and Beijing are intended to encompass the controversial regional and thematic reviews that were not negotiated by all UN Member States, and which openly promote CSE, abortion and the LGBT agenda. Certainly, this would indicate that such phrases should be avoided or heavily caveated as indicated in this section.

C. Article 97 states:

"No treaty, convention, agreement or arrangement of any kind between one or more member States of European and one or more OACPS Members shall impede the implementation of this Agreement".This is the supremacy Clause, meaning that the Agreement is superior to any treaty, convention or further agreement.

D. The Agreement violates Nigeria's sovereignty. No provision for reservation.

E.  The Agreement makes African countries accountable to the EU.

F. The Agreement has no Interpretation Section. This is why Namibia refused to sign it.

G. The Agreement creates a "Council of Ministers" co-chaired by the EU which has power to make binding legal decisions that directly affect impact laws and     policies of the 48 African countries.

H. The Agreement violates chapter 2 of the Nigerian constitution and Articles  2, 8, 17, 18, 28, 29 of the African Charter on Human & Peoples’  Rights (Ratification Enforcement) Act, CAP 10 which is a part and parcel of the Nigerian law. 

I.  The Agreement referenced human rights 100 times without defining any of them.

J. Nigerian Minister of information published a commentary with all its errors justifying the signing, but chose deliberately not to publish the declaration that accompanied the signing. The Minister's statement shows that he is very ignorant of the Articles of Samoa Agreement. 

K.   Nigeria is a sovereign country, as are other African nations, the Caribbean, and the Pacific countries. We should not be dictated to by the EU. We are no longer  

under the tutelage of our former colonial masters. If the EU decides to stop providing financial assistance due to our refusal to sign the LGBT agreement, they may proceed to do so. However, we cannot yield to the EU's cheap blackmail and sign the agreement. 

L. We know Nigeria was under pressure from the very beginning to sign the Samoa Agreement. That pressure is from Europe. Europe exerted similar pressure on their own, that is, Poland and Hungary who are protective of life and Family. This is what the recently EU Nigeria Summit was about. Offering a carrot to sell out our  sovereignty and Values.

Sonnie Ekwowusi is the Chairman, Human and Constitutional Rights Committee African Bar Association.