Former United States Ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell as described democracy in Nigeria as a nominal democracy, existing only in name.
In his latest blog on the Council on Foreign Relations web page, the former Ambassador while discussing gay rights in Africa said, in nominally democratic Nigeria, Muslim and Christian leaders have called for additional laws penalizing homosexual behavior, one of which recently passed through the senate.”
Campbell, who was apparently reacting to the recent prohibition of gay by the Nigerian Senate stated that in sub-Saharan Africa, homophobia is widespread and has often been used to whip up public support and to distract attention from bad governance, citing  a reference point in Zimbabwe.
He pointed out that in Uganda, there is legislation under consideration that could include the death penalty for homosexual acts, while in Zimbabwe, the Anglican Church’s alleged sympathy for homosexuality was part of the pretext for, in effect, the seizure of the property of the country’s largest church and for official castigation of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
According to Campbell, who has not hidden his aversion for the current administration in Nigeria,”the outlier is South Africa, where public gay pride parades are held in Johannesburg and Cape Town and discrimination based on sexual preference is outlawed. South Africa has among the most thorough constitutional guarantees of human rights in the world. But gay rights are a “white” issue, and homophobia is widespread among other racial groups.”
Nigeria  and the United States have fundamental differences on the issue of gay rights  which the Nigerian Senate banned  in line with the country’s primordial values, beliefs and Nigerians’ deep-rooted resentment of unorthodox sexual practices.
Only last week, the executive arm of govermnet defended its legislative arm on the banning of gay rights in the country saying that it is the legitimate right of Nigeria to make laws governing its activities without apologies to other countries.
Reacting to the misgivings of some Western countries led by United Kingdom and United States condemning the passing into law the bill against same-sex marriage by the Senate, Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku said that the nation’s Democracy will be guarded by Nigeria’s interest and values and not by the comments of others.
Besides the federal government, other bodies and individuals have thrown their weight behind the ban as the  Catholic Bishop Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) is reported to have  lauded the Nigerian Senate on its decision to criminalize same sex marriage in the country.
According to the report, a statement issued at the end of the administrative board meeting of the CBCN in Abuja by Most Rev. Felix Alaba-Job, said that the church was emphatic in its condemnation of same sex union, stressing that it is against the Bible and the Nigerian people’s culture.