The Christians Association of Nigeria CAN, has rejected the newly amended Company and Allied Matters Law, CAMA, which was signed into law on August 7th by President Buhari. The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, said the law is satanic, unacceptable, ungodly, and reprehensible.
Under the law, religious bodies and charity organisations will be regulated by the registrar-general of Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and a supervising minister.
But in a statement by Adebayo Oladeji, special assistant on media and communications to Samson Ayokunle, CAN president, the association said the law is “unacceptable, ungodly, reprehensible and an ill-wind that blows no one any good”.
According to CAN, the church cannot be controlled by the government because of its spiritual responsibilities and obligations.
The association maintained that the government does not have the technical expertise to run the church, adding that though it is not against the government’s fight against corruption, it completely rejects the idea of bringing the church under its control.
CAN said if the federal government is bent on imposing a law on the church, then it has 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”.
“We recall that during the First Term of the President, there was a Public Hearing conducted by the National Assembly on the Non-Governmental Organisations Bill tagged ‘Bill for an Act to Provide for the Establishment of the Non-Governmental Organisations Regulatory Commission for the Supervision, Co-ordination and Monitoring of Non-Governmental Organisations’, which was attended by CAN and many NGOs,” the statement read.
“At the Public Hearing, the Bill that sought to bring the religious organisations 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 statement reads
“The leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) rejects out rightly the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 that was assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari recently.
“By implications, he has repealed the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990 (1). 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.
We recall that during the First Term of the President, there was a Public Hearing conducted by the National Assembly on the Non- Governmental Organisations Bill tagged ‘Bill for an Act To Provide For The Establishment Of The Non-Governmental Organizations Regulatory Commission For The Supervision, Co-ordination And Monitoring Of Non Governmental Organizations’ which was attended by CAN and many NGOs.
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) &(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.”
The association added that it would not allow the government to take away people’s liberty to worship.
“What good thing again will you not take away from the people in the name of being in power? 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?” the association queried.
The association called on all well-meaning Nigerians to ask the federal government to suspend the law “because we do not need it in this nation”.
David Oyedepo, presiding bishop of Living Faith Church Worldwide, had also kicked against the law, saying no one can appoint a trustee over his church.
The association stated that it was not against the fight against corruption but that it rejects the idea of bringing the church under the control of the government.
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