- Burna Boy’s Police Escorts Shoot Married Man After Singer Made Pass At Wife - June 12, 2022
- I’m Ashamed Of Ohanaeze, No Longer Believe In Body – Umahi Attacks Obiozor - June 12, 2022
- June 12: President Buhari’s Democracy Day Speech - June 12, 2022
The Christian Association of Nigeria (Can0, has rejected the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020, that was recently passed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, saying sit will snuff life out of the church and rank the church as a secular institution under secular control.
This comes after Bishop of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, David Oyedepo had earlier condemned the law, asking the Federal Government to review the part that empowers the minister to remove the board of trustees of churches without recourse to the court.
CAN president, Pastor Adebayo Oladeji in a statement on Thursday said the law is an attempt at stifling the church.
Oladeji said, “The law, to say the least, is unacceptable, ungodly, reprehensible and an ill-wind that blows no one any good. It is a time bomb waiting to explode.”
CAN recounted the Public Hearing organised by the National Assembly on the Non-Governmental Organisations Bill at the first tenure of President Buhari tagged: ‘Bill for an Act To Provide For The Establishment Of The Non-Governmental Organizations, NGOs, Regulatory Commission For The Supervision, Co-ordination And Monitoring of Non Governmental Organizations’ which CAN attended alongside many NGOs.
According to Oladejo, “At the Public Hearing, the Bill that sought to bring the religious organizations and NGOs under the control and influence of the government was totally rejected because it would snuff life out of the church and rank the church as a secular institution under secular control.
“We thought it was all over until we heard of the CAMA that was assented to by the President, making the rejected bill a law.
“The satanic section of the controversial and ungodly law is Section 839 (1) and (2) which empowers the Commission to suspend trustees of an association (in this case, the church) and appoint the interim managers to manage the affairs of the association for some given reasons.
“While we are not against the government fighting corruption wherever it may be found, yet we completely reject the idea of bringing the Church, which is technically grouped among the NGOs, under control of the government.
“The church cannot be controlled by the government because of its spiritual responsibilities and obligations. “This is why we are calling on the Federal government to stop the implementation of the obnoxious and ungodly law until the religious institutions are exempted from it.
“We call on President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently return the law to the National Assembly for immediate amendment. Nigeria should not be compared with any other nation when it comes to the relationship between religious institutions and the government. In Nigeria, people’s religions are tied to their humanity and of course, their life.
“How can the government sack the trustee of a church which it contributed no dime to establish? How can a secular and political minister be the final authority on the affairs and management of another institution which is not political? For example, how can a non-Christian head of Government Ministry be the one to determine the running of the church? It is an invitation to trouble that the government does not have power to manage.”
The Christian body went on to ask the government to focus on providing infrastructure for the people and other basic amenities rather than fighting the church.
CAN, therefore, urged government to face the business of providing infrastructure for the people, focus on better health provision, food, education, adequate security employment, among others.
The statement continued: “The government should not be a busy body in a matter that does not belong to it. The government does not have the technical expertise to run the church of God because of its spiritual nature.
“If the government is bent on imposing a law on us which the entire Church in Nigeria is against, then, they have declared war on Christianity and the agenda to destroy the Church which we have spoken against before now is coming to the open more clearly.
“If you cannot give us good amenities of life, we would not allow you to take away our liberty to worship our Maker.
“What good thing again will you not take away from the people in the name of being in power? Are we not running a democracy which is a government of the people by the people and for the people? Is this not gradually becoming a dictatorship or what was the essence of the Public Hearing you called us to when you had made up your mind not to consider the position of Christians at all which we presented during the Public Hearing?
“We call on all well-meaning Nigerians to ask the Federal Government to suspend the law because we do not need it in this nation.”
Source: Vanguard
This post was written by Obiajulu Joel Nwolu.
The views expressed here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect our views and opinions.