Fashola: I’ve never spoken against the gay community

Babatunde Fashola, minister of power works and housing, says he has never spoken against the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) community in Lagos or elsewhere.

Fashola made the clarification on Wednesday while speaking at the Commonwealth Peoples Forum, ongoing at the Commonwealth Head of Governments Meeting (CHOGM 2018) at Westminster.

The minister who was speaking on governance through the eyes of current and former leaders of Commonwealth cities, explained his challenges in office as the governor of Lagos state, and spoke on the inclusion of the elderly and every other portion of the city he governed.

Fashola was asked why he was against about two million people within the LGBT community in Lagos, and about an attack of about 40 members of the LGBT community in Lagos.

The former governor said: “I have never made a statement against the LGBT community, I don’t recall ever making such a statement. So wherever your source came from, that is grossly inadequate.

“That said, the 40 incidents that you mentioned, I am not aware of it. As you might know, I am no longer governor of Lagos state, I ceased to be governor in 2015.”

This is coming about 24 hours after the Prime Minister Theresa May announced that laws criminalising the LGBT community should be repealed and corrected in Nigeria and across the Commonwealth.

Nigeria is seen in the Commonwealth as one of the hostile countries for the LGBT community in the Commonwealth, with discussions across different panels focusing on inclusion for the LGBT community major Commonwealth cities.

Fashola said the biggest challenge in his first 100 days in office as Lagos governor was the unexpected issues of security, with the city reporting a number of bank robberies and murder in weeks.

The minister added that after facing the issues at the state level, no such incidents were recorded in over two years in the state.