Anti-gay bill: US threatens to sanction Nigeria

The US has threatened to sanction Nigeria
following President Jonathan’s signing of the
Same-Sex Prohibition Act 2014. The world power
is threatening to scale down its support for HIV/
AIDS and anti-malaria programmes in Nigeria.
This was made known yesterday Jan. 20th by
James Entwistle, the US Ambassador to Nigeria.
Mr Entwistle said he was worried about "the
implications of the anti-same sex marriage law
which seems to restrict the fundamental rights of a
section of the Nigerian population.”
"The issue of same-sex marriage was very
controversial all over the world, including
within  the United States where 17 states out
of 50 had endorsed it, but others still reject
its legality. The issue that we see and I am
speaking as a friend of Nigeria is that as I
read the bill, it looks to me that it puts
significant restrictions on the freedoms of
assembly and expression; in my opinion
which applies especially in advanced
democracies, once government begins to
say something in these areas, freedom no
longer applies. It seems to me that this is a
very worrisome precedent.”