You were misled, Chris Anyanwu To Soyinka

Senator Chris Anyanwu has faulted Prof. Wole Soyinka’s objection to the Sexual Offences Bill as passed by the 7th National Assembly, saying the Nobel Laureate was misled in his hasty analysis of the bill.

Speaking against the background of the objections raised by Soyinka that the bill seemed to make defilement of girls above 11 years old acceptable, Senator Anyanwu who authored the bill said that there was nowhere the bill allowed such.

Besides Soyinka, civil rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, has also objected to the bill on the same grounds.

In his own objection to the bill, Falana threatened to go to court saying:

“Finally, if the Bill is eventually passed into law with its obnoxious provisions we shall not hesitate to pray the Federal High Court to strike it down in view of Article 18(3) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act (Cap A9) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 which has imposed a duty on the government of Nigeria to ensure the elimination of every discrimination against women and ensure the protection of the rights of the woman and the child, as stipulated in international declarations and conventions.”

Responding directly to the open letter by Soyinka to President Muhammadu Buhari not to give his assent to the bill, Senator Anyanwu said Soyinka’s fury could be understandable given the sensibility of upright Nigerians to the defilement of women.

“No one who read that letter could miss the fury embedded in your words. I know where that fury comes from: moral fibre, good conscience, and love of people.

“I want to assure you that it was the very same sentiments that drove me to come up with that bill and the same sentiments that led senators and members to pass it,” Senator Anyanwu wrote.

“As always, your aim was to speak as the voice of reason in our increasingly confused society.  I know you meant well. I know you acted out of your deep compassion for Nigerians and fatherly love for the children. But as I read your open letter, my heart sank because this time, my dear Baba, my dear icon, you are wrong; very wrong.

“You have been misled by the misinformation circulated by someone who could not read or comprehend a legal draft; someone who did not have the patience to read through a proposal, see what was recommended and what was finally accepted. You were misled by someone who deliberately distorted the content of one of the most profound bills ever passed by the Nigerian legislature, scandalized the proponent and the institution for reasons that you and I may not know.”

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