homosexuality-nigeria
A University of Lagos student in Nigeria has used science to prove that gay marriage is improper. Reuters

A student at the University of Lagos in Nigeria has conducted a study in which he attempts to present homosexuality and gay marriage as unnatural, by drawing an analogy to identical poles of magnets that cannot be attracted to each other.

Chibuihem Amalaha, a postgraduate student at the university, claimed, based on his observations of magnets, that a man would only attract a woman, according to the laws of nature. A man cannot attract another man or a woman cannot attract another woman because they are the same, he claimed.

“In recent time I found that gay marriage, which is homosexuality and lesbianism, is eating deep into the fabric of our human nature all over the world and this was why nations of Sodom and Gomora were destroyed by God because they were into gay practice,” Amalaha was quoted by This Day Live, a Nigerian news website, as saying.

The news about the controversial research comes on the heels of a recent threat by the U.K. to cut foreign funding for AIDS and HIV outreach programs if Nigeria proceeded with legislature to ban gay marriage in the country and frame a law under which gay rights supporters could be sentenced to 14 years in prison.

“I asked myself why should a man be marrying a man and a woman marrying a woman, does it mean that there is no more female for a man to marry or there is no more male for a woman to marry?” Amalaha said. “And recently, Britain told Nigeria to legalize gay marriage of forfeit international aid. I thank God for our lawmakers who refused to sign the bill legalizing gay marriage.”

According to Amalaha, the staff at the University of Lagos praised his work hoping that he would win the Nobel prize one day for his research, as what he has done is “real and nobody has done it in any part of the world.”

“I used two bar magnets in my research. A bar magnet is a horizontal magnet that has the North Pole and the South Pole, and when you bring two bar magnets and you bring the North Pole together you find that the two North Poles will not attract,” Amalaha said. “They will repel, that is, they will push away themselves showing that a man should not attract a man.”

Nigeria is considered one of the world’s most anti-gay nations. Homosexuality and same-sex marriage have been barred in the country since colonial days. And, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Nigeria face unique legal and social challenges, which are not experienced by non-LGBT residents in the country. According to a 2013 study by the Pew Research Center, 98 percent of Nigerians believe society should not accept homosexuality as a way of life.

South African LGBT website Mambaonline has criticized Amalaha’s claim, while calling the article published on the This Day Live “embarrassing.”

“The uncritical and uninformed article is likely to add to the ignorance and prejudice surrounding homosexuality in Nigeria,” Luiz DeBarros of Mambaonline said.