UPDATE: The University of Lagos has since issued a statement distancing itself from Amalaha. Read the statement here.
A student in Nigeria is claiming he can prove gay marriage is wrong through science - and his scientific "breakthrough" is backed by his university.
Chibuihem Amalaha, who has won awards in his country for reporting on energy science and featured on various national television stations, says he used a magnet experiment to prove homosexuality is "improper".
Amalaha says his "groundbreaking" experiments show the north and south poles of two magnets are attracted to each other while same poles repel each other.
He concludes this “means that man cannot attract another man because they are the same, and a woman should not attract a woman because they are the same. That is how I used physics to prove gay marriage wrong".
Amalaha's "research" has been commended by the University of Lagos, where he is a postgraduate student, and has been told by lecturers he will "win a Nobel prize one day". The interview with the student was published on Nigerian website This Day Live, where his findings appear to be presented as fact.
"A University of Lagos post graduate student, Chibuihem Amalaha, from Imo State has used science to prove that gay marriage is improper among other breakthroughs, writes Charles Ajunwa," the article states. "He talked about his researches and scientific breakthroughs with the confidence of an achiever..
"..And now his works have earned him the respect in the world of science."
South African gay lifestyle website Mambaonline.com slammed the interview, saying it was "absurd".
"It’s debatable as to whether the embarrassing article is more damming of the standard of education at the University of Lagos or of the standard of journalism at This Day," criticises writer Luiz DeBarros. "The uncritical and uninformed article is likely to add to the ignorance and prejudice surrounding homosexuality in Nigeria."
Nigeria's laws on homosexual acts are notoriously harsh; current legislation punishes homosexual acts with up to 14 years in jail, or, in some northern regions of the country, death by stoning.