Petition emerges to prevent Nigerian preacher from entering Australia

Online activist organisation CommunityRun has come out with a petition calling for the cancellation of homophobic Nigerian Preacher Enoch Adeboye’s Australian visa.

The petition states: “Mr. Adeboye has already clearly demonstrated vilification towards segments of the LGBT community and others whom he identifies as witches. Furthermore, his preaching espouses beliefs that represent a danger to a segment of the Australian community and that have resulted in torture and death in other countries.”

Visa approval is subject to Fact Sheet 79, which details the ‘Character Requirements’ necessary for entrance into Australia. Listed under ‘The Character Test’ includes the statement that a person will not pass the character test where “having regard to the person’s past and present general conduct, the person is found to be not of good character”.

It also states that a person will not pass the character test where “there is a significant risk that the person will vilify a segment of the Australian community, or incite discord in the Australian community or in a segment of that community.”

Adeboye has referred to homosexuality as “evil” and an “anathema to the will of God”.

Leo Igwe, a Nigerian human rights activist, said that banning Adeboye from touring Australia and surrounding areas will send a strong message to him and other “gay bashing African clerics”.