CAN rejects CAMA, says government has declared ‘war on christianity’

The Christian Association of Nigeria has rejected the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 describing it as “satanic”.

President 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.

The Christian body decried 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.”

In a sermon to his congregation, the Bishop of the Living Faith Church, Dr David Oyedepo, had also advised the Federal Government to expunge the part of the law that gives the minister the power to remove the board of trustees of churches without recourse to the court.

CAN in a statement signed on Thursday by Adebayo Oladeji, Special Assistant on Media and Communications to CAN President, Rev Samson Ayokunle, noted that the Federal Government has declared war on the church if it moved on to implement the law.

The statement read in part, “The leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria rejects outrightly the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 that was assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari recently.

“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.

“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.”

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,” it vowed.

CAN called on President Buhari to “stop the implementation of the obnoxious and ungodly law until the religious institutions are exempted from it” and “return the law to the National Assembly for immediate amendment.”