The standards for grants in Nigeria university system might be … questionable … given the claims of a graduate student in one of Nigeria’s largest daily newspapers.

This Day’s online site published a lengthy story about the supposed academic exploits of Chibuihem Amalaha, a chemical engineering graduate student claiming to use science “to prove that gay marriage is improper,” among other breakthroughs.

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Amalaha’s proof? Magnets of the same charge repel one another.

“You find that the two North Poles will not attract,” Amalaha told Charles Ajunwa, a writer for This Day. “They will repel, that is, they will push away themselves showing that a man should not attract a man.”

UPI picked up the Sepember 3 story, which subsequently began to go viral. There is no legal protection for gay and lesbian rights in Nigeria, which imposes a 14-year prison sentence for consensual same-sex adult relationships. Nigeria’s lower house passed an anti-gay marriage law in May reminiscent of the Russian anti-gay legislation, targeting public displays of affection and assistance to gay couples and effectively shuttering the country’s underground gay clubs.

The Christian Association of Nigeria demanded in July that foreign countries refrain from sending gay diplomats to Nigeria and called for diplomatic ministers amenable to gay diplomats to be fired.

The University of Lagos is a 50-year-old accredited state school in Nigeria’s most populous city and the alma mater of Bisi Alimi, arguably Nigeria’s most prominent gay rights campaigner.