Presidential candidate, Oby Ezekwesili says her government, if she’s president, will respect LGBT rights

Oby Ezekwesili, the presidential candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), has made some remarks that indicate that every Nigerian, including members of the LGBT community, will be treated equally if she is elected president in 2019.

Speaking at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, best known as Chatham House, in the UK on Monday, Ezekwesili said, when it comes to public policy, everyone is entitled to equal opportunity.

Responding to claims by LGBT activist Bisi Alimi that she discriminates against the LGBT community based on her Christian faith, the former World Bank vice-president said that in her government, everyone will get equal opportunity.

“Bisi spoke about the LGBT… I absolutely believe in the fact that everyone is entitled to equal opportunity,” Ezekwesili said. “So at the realm of public policy, it wouldn’t matter to me what your belief is, what you chose to believe it… It is basically the fact that equality of opportunity will define my time in government, I believe that equality of opportunity offers everyone the right to live… It offers everyone, the right to aspire, that will definitely be the way that I run the government that I shall lead.”

She also responded to a specific case raised by Alimi regarding a 2009 situation involving gay Nigerians in a World Bank project in Tanzania. The former vice-president of the World Bank said she reached out to governments across the world on the need for equality of opportunity.

“On your specific mention of Tanzania, when I was the vice-president at the World Bank, one specific measure that we took was to make sure that governments understand the concept of equality to a human life,” she clarified. “So, I don’t know where you got the particular impression that I didn’t do anything. I reached out to the Tanzanian government on that matter, on the premise that equality of opportunity is an entitlement to every member of society.”

Check out the exchange in the clip below.