The Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN), has described the amended Company and Allied Matters Act, CAMA, as satanic.
The Christian body called on President Buhari to halt the implementation of “the obnoxious and ungodly law until the religious institutions are exempted from it.”
CAMA was signed into law by President Buhari on August 7, 2020
According to CAN, the Act will do no one any good.
While rejecting CAMA in totality, the church body added that it is ungodly, reprehensible and an ill-wind.
This was contained in a statement signed by Pastor Adebayo Oladeji, Special Assistant on Media and Communications to the CAN President.
He noted that the CAMA law “Would snuff life out of the church and rank the church as a secular institution under secular control.”
It specifically kicked against sections 839(1) and (2) as of the law where a Minister is empowered “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.”
According to the association, government at all levels has no business controlling the affairs of a church when it does not contribute financially to the church.
“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“By implications, he has repealed the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990 (1).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 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.
“While we are not against the government fighting corruption wherever it may be found, 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.”
