Since the passing of the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Bill 2011 [SSMB] by the Nigerian Senate hundreds of online and twitter comments have been made supporting the Bill. By far the majority of these comments have defended the Bill on the basis that it only concerns marriage between two people identifying as the same sex; that as a national law [...]

On hearing the news of the passing of the Nigerian “Same Sex Marriage Bill 2011, my reaction was, I was too numb to even have a reaction at the miserable state of my country. Did I really expect anything different? Chude Jideonwo “Why the Nigeria’s Anti-Gay Bill Sickens Me alludes to the real purpose of the Bill which is to expand the [...]

by Sokari The original idea for this piece was to write a short essay on Nigerian Feminism over the past 50 years.  However there are still those who feel that “feminism” is unAfrican and I feel there needs to be a discussion on what Nigerian Feminism is before one can begin to name Nigerian feminists.   I give an example. [...]

The former Governor of Zamfara State, Senator Sani Yerima has married a 13 year old Egyptian girl for whom he paid her family $100,000. The “marriage” is being discussed in the news but no charges of rape and forced marriage are being pursued. Two other men, Harrison Eze and Ademola Arogboto have both been charged with rape though for some reasons the [...]

On Monday, 1st March, a group of activists and civil society organisations in Uganda presented a petition signed by 450,000 people from across the world opposing the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. The Petition was presented to Edward Sekandi, the Ugandan Speaker of Parliament and called for Parliament to “enact laws that will protect people and not humiliate or kill them”. It pointed [...]

I’m writing this post in response to number of articles on the prevalence of homophobia in Africa and to try and give some perspective and historical context.     In the last six months we have seen the expression of homophobia with the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill; the arrest of gay Malawian couple, Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza, for getting married;  [...]

When I set out to write a review of this weeks Nigerian blogs I had it in my mind that I would write on the invasion and bombing of towns and villages in Warri region of the Niger Delta. To be frank I expected to read Nigerians outraged by this attack on their fellow citizens by the Nigerian military especially [...]