By Martin Opara
Archbishop of Owerri Catholic Archdiocese, His Grace, Most Rev. A.J.V Obinna, has lent his voice to the widespread condemnation of the attempt by the Dr. Chiji Collins led Imo State legislature, to clandestinely, revisit the obnoxious Imo State law 12 of 12, alongside some of its clauses that generated controversy and resounding uproar, in view of its veiled intention to destroy and erode long standing cherished Igbo values and Christian religious foundations.
Bishop Obinna, in a presentation made on his behalf, by the chairman of Association of Catholic Medical Practitioners of Nigeria, Imo State branch, Dr. Philip Njemanze, at the Legislative Public Hearing for “Violence Against People’s Prohibition (VAPP) bill for Imo State, held at Rockview Hotel, Owerri, on Tuesday 15th September, stated that, the bill sponsored by Hon. Uju Onwudiwe, representing Njaba state constituency is “a poorly written and conceptualized law, that is aimed at destroying the family, erode our Igbo traditions and Christian religious foundation, legalize abortion, same sex marriage, out law the use of the bible in schools, outlaw all-men catholic seminaries, ordain women as priests, crown women as monarchs and traditional rulers (Ezes) in Imo communities, promotes the sale of human parts from aborted babies, imprison parents and preachers for moral education of children”. The bill is better not promulgated in it’s present form and should remain repealed”.
Continuing, the revered Catholic prelate, noted that, all the issues the bill addressed about rape, are provided for in Nigeria’s current penal code. “Hence the current law is designed to augment the Imo State Law No. 7 for the destruction of the family and killing of the unborn child”.
He advised that the bill, if well intended, should ban the proliferation of “baby factories” in the state, “where innocent babies are allegedly killed and their organs exported to Western countries where they are used for organ transplants for infant victims of heart, kidney defects, liver and lung insuffiency”.
He posited that the Imo State Law No. 12, sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is aimed at providing aborted tissues and fetal parts for Western pharmaceutical companies for drug testing and cosmetic industry. “It is also aimed at providing human ovarian eggs through Invitro-Fertilization (IVF) clinics to supply over 100 million eggs needed for the Tissue Cloning Industry. “It should also be noted that majority of the stem cell cloning industry is owned by Bill Gates”.
He also noted that, “it is a regrettable irony that, Law No. 12, that it’s subject is said to be mainly, the protection of person, does not clearly define who and what makes a person .“If a person is characterized by life, what in this law, protects the sanctity of life, on whom violence is inflicted, as the law in question, does not protect life, from it’s scientific medical beginning, which is from conception to natural death.
“It is therefore necessary and important that Bill No. 12, should specifically state that, any person who commits any form of abortion of an unborn child, sale of human eggs, or sperms, abandons or subjects human embryos to inhuman conditions of cold freezing for the purpose of sale, abandons wife/husband, children, aged parents or other dependant without any means of sustenance, commits an offence and is liable on conviction, to imprisonment for a team not exceeding 3 years or fine not exceeding N500,000 or both”.
He further lamented that the Imo State Agency for the prohibition of violence against persons was created as a policing agency without operational mandate and necessary wherewithal to perform effectively as there is neither grant in aid nor provision on how to fund the so-called service providers.
“There are no government shelters for victims of human trafficking, no means of funding for maternities to cater for the “unborn child” and their mothers. The agency from all indications will only coordinate between the so-called service providers and the police, which is not enough”.
He affirmed that the agency is not necessary as it’s role and functions fall within the ambit of the Ministry of Women Affairs. “There is no need for another agency that will increase the size of the already bloated Imo government, without adding commensurate value”.
