by Kayode Sesan | BREAKING TIMES
Beyond collaborative efforts on Boko Haram, lifting stiff sanctions on gay relationships in Nigeria will top the agenda of bilateral talks between President Obama and President Buhari as Buhari visits Obama in Washington DC on July 20, 2015, BREAKING TIMES can report.
The United States Supreme Court in a ruling on Friday legalized gay marriage in all 50 states of the United States of America.
Under the leadership of President Jonathan, Nigeria became embroiled in a silent diplomatic face-off with the US government after the Nigerian parliament passed a law against same sex relationship, stipulating a 14-year jail term for offenders.
Following President Jonathan’s signing of the Same-Sex Prohibition Act 2014, the US ambassador of America to Nigeria, Mr James Entwistle threatened that the United States will scale down its foreign aid support to Nigeria.
Diplomatic relations between Nigeria and the United States became frostier when Nigeria’s All Progressives Congress (APC) hired AKPD to manage the presidential campaign of its candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari in the March 2015 presidential elections. AKPD was co-founded by David Axelrod – the man credited as the force behind President Obama’s election victories in 2008 and 2012. He served as Obama’s Senior Advisor until 2011.
According to an inside APC source who spoke to BREAKING TIMES on Friday on condition of anonymity, part of the deal to get the United States behind Buhari’s election as President included the lifting of sanctions on same sex relations in Nigeria, a development that got former President Jonathan in the bad books of the Obama administration.
“The deal was that Buhari will reverse the anti-gay law in Nigeria once he becomes President. Obama has already summoned Buhari to the White House for bilateral talks on July 20. Lifting the gay ban in Nigeria will top their discussion agenda after Boko Haram”, the source disclosed.
