Mustapha Lawal
Claim
Femi Fani Kayode appeared on the Channels Television program “Politics Today”, on the 9th of December 2022 and claimed that the vice-presidential candidate of the Labour party, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed once called for the killings of the Non-heterosexual community members in the country.
Verdict
The claim is True!
Full-text
Former Aviation Minister and Director of New Media of the APC presidential campaign, Femi Fani-Kayode said the vice-presidential candidate of the Labour party, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed called for the public killings of the Non-heterosexual community members in the country.
He made the claim when he was featured in a Channels Television program, Politics Today, in his response when asked why the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu is a better choice for Nigerians than his counterparts.
He said, “The other one (Peter Obi), a man as far as I am concerned, when he was Governor of Anambra State, he was issuing ID cards and insisting northerners should have ID cards, shipping them out of the state (fact-check on these claims can be found here).
“This is a man that has the symbol of Biafra on his beer cans. This is a man whose vice, Datti-Ahmed said that homosexuals should be killed publicly..”
Verification
Findings of FactCheckElections revealed a news report from CNN that states that the Nigerian senate passes an anti-gay bill in 2011. The bill that was sponsored by Senator Domingo Alaba Obende (Edo North) calls for a 14-year sentence for anyone convicted of homosexuality. Anyone who aids or “abets” same-sex unions faces 10 years in prison, a provision that could target rights groups.
The time in which the Anti-gay Bill was being deliberated by the Nigeria senate coincides with the time former Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed was a member of the Senate (upper chamber) representing Kaduna North (29 May 2011 – 2012) on the platform of CPC.
He was one of those who spoke in favour of the bill that was assented to by President Jonathan in January 2014. During the plenary, Yusuf was filmed saying ”Actually such elements in the society should be killed” according to the video on Channels TV YouTube page.
It is believed the elements he mentioned in the video are LGBTQI (Non-heterosexual) people. So it is safe to say the claim that Femi Fani Kayode made about Yusuf Datti calling for the killing of Non-heterosexual people was truly made during the plenary session for the deliberation of the Anti-gay law.
Conclusion
FactCheckElections can conclude that the claim that the vice-presidential candidate of the Labour party, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed once called for the killings of the Non-heterosexual community members in the country is True!