The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has rejected the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) insisting that government does not have the spiritual wherewithal to manage the affairs of churches.
CAMA was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on the 7th of August.
Speaking on behalf of the CAN on Thursday, Special Assistant to the CAN President on Media and Communications, Pastor Adebayo Oladeji said that the Association’s protest is not against government’s efforts to fight corruption. He said that it was with a section of the Act that sought to bring the churches under government control.
Excepts of his speech:
“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.
“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 NGOs, under control of the government. The church cannot be controlled by government because of its spiritual responsibilities and obligations.
“This is why we are calling on the government to stop the implementation of the obnoxious and ungodly law until the religious institutions are exempted from it.
“We call on the president 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.
CAN rejected CAMA insisting that its implementation is an attack on Christianity. It believes the government should rather focus on improving public infrastructure and security than meddling in the affairs of religious bodies.
According to Pastor Oladeji, “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 take away our liberty to worship our maker.”