Anti-Jonathan protest holds in London

[Mirror]

* Human Rights groups urge President to veto anti-gay bill Nigerians resident in London, protesting against the President Jonathan's administration, yesterday took their petition to the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, at his 10, Downing Street office.

The protesters, carrying placards, presented copies of their petition against what they alleged as "President Goodluck Jonathan's dictatorial tendencies".

Inscriptions on some of the placards include: "No to Jonathan's monopolization of political ambition" and "Democracy now under Goodluck Jonathan's dictatorship."

Meanwhile, yesterday 10 Nigerian and international human rights groups in London urged President Jonathan not to sign into law the new anti-gay bill that would formalise discrimination against lesbian, gay, biintercourseual, transgender and interintercourse (LGBTI) people and have wide-ranging effects on civil liberties in the country.

Last week, Nigeria's House of Representatives passed the Same intercourse Marriage (Prohibition) Bill, which would impose a prison sentence of up to 14 years for anyone found guilty of engaging in sameintercourse relationships. The Senate had already passed a similar bill.

If signed into law, the bill would also criminalise freedom of speech, association, and assembly. "The bill is a throwback to past decades under military rule when these civil rights were treated with contempt," said Lucy Freeman, deputy director of the Africa Programme at Amnesty International.

"It would provide for prison sentences for anyone who speaks out in support of, meets with, or forms a group advocating for the rights of LGBTI people. It criminalises the lives of LGBTI people, but the damage it would cause extends to every single Nigerian, Freeman said.

"It undermines basic freedoms that Nigeria's civil society has long fought to defend. The civil rights of Nigerians cannot simply be legislated away"

"Same-intercourse marriages" or "civil unions" – which could lead to imprisonment of up to 14 years – are so broadly defined in the bill that they include virtually any form of same-intercourse cohabitation. In addition, the bill seeks to impose prison sentences on a range of people who associate with or assist LGBTI people.

Individuals or groups, including priests or other clerics, who "witness, abet and aid the solemnization of a same intercourse marriage or union" would face a 10-year prison sentence. So would those who "directly or indirectly make public show of same intercourse amorous relationship," or anyone who "registers, operates or participates in gay clubs, societies and organizations."

Freeman added that anyone who "supports" LGBTI groups, "processions or meetings" could also face a decade behind bars.

"The Nigerian government knows that its criminal laws already hinder access to services, and has acknowledged the need to target services to at-risk populations," said Graeme Reid, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Biintercourseual and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch.

National Mirror