TheCable

“When people preach that if you believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, he will deliver you from poverty, that is a lie, we know it, and I see them every day,” Oshiomhole said.

“And I think Father made the point that people are setting up business centres and they cover themselves by saying they are pastors.

“And in every donation that is being made in church when a big man dies, that is where reverend fathers and pastors will identify the rich people to remind us that the church has not been completed and all those who are to donate are invariably public officers from their salaries.

“Everybody is contributing to the confusion that we find ourselves in.”

Oshiomhole chided Matthew Kukah, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto and convener of the conference, for expressing support for individuals regardless of their sexual orientation.

“I think you were trying to be internationally correct, you mustn’t try to be, you should be correct within the context of Nigeria’s value system, where you spoke to regardless of sexual orientation,” he said.

“That is fashionable in the West. In Nigeria, sexual orientation matters, a man should not sleep with a man and a woman should not sleep with a woman, if they do, it must not be acknowledged by the Nigerian state.

“We must discourage you because if you begin to use that ‘regardless it matters’, I will not.

“I am sorry for those who have subscribed to Western values. I won’t employ any man or woman, or support, or vote for because of his sexual orientation, I need to know it.”

The senator said the certainty of sexual orientation is a “core value” that Nigeria must defend.