CAMA law: Fed. gov. has declared war on Christians – CAN

By Ezurike Ugochukwu

The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has stated that insistence of the federal government to implement the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 (CAMA), law.would amount to nothing short of war on the church.

CAN maintained that appointing a supervising minister to suspend church trustees and appoint new one under any guise is Satanic, it would snuff life out of the church and rank her among the secular institutions under secular control.

CAN President, Rev Samson Ayokunle, who spoke through his Special Assistant on Media and Communications Adebayo Oladeji, stated that implementing the law would mean a war on the christendom in Nigeria.

The Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari had on August 7 signed into law, the Companies and Allied Matters Bill, 2020. The bill which has been passed by the National Assembly replaced the 1990 CAMA.

Section 839 (1) and (2) of the law which empowers the supervising minister “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 CAN is clearly Satanic.

The leadership of CAN the statement emphasised, has rejected outrightly the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 that was assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari recently, saying that the law, to say the least, was unacceptable, ungodly, reprehensible, and an ill-wind that blew no one any good and a time bomb waiting to explode.

Maintaining that CAN was not against the government fighting corruption wherever it might be found, yet it completely rejected 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. 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?

“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.

“Government should face the business of providing infrastructure for the people. Let them focus on better health provision, food, education, adequate security employment, etc. 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,” it said.

Failure of the government to stand down the law which the entire Church in Nigeria is against presently, then, they have declared war on Christianity and the agenda to destroy the Church.

He further stated, “we have spoken against this before now, and it’s 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.

Oyedepo

CAN maintained that Buhari must stop the implementation of the obnoxious and ungodly law, return the law to the National Assembly for immediate amendment, and exempt religious institutions.

Presiding Bishop, Living Faith Church Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedepo among others, has continued to speak and condemn the CAMA law in its entirety.