The Human Rights Writers
Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, on Saturday described the amended Company and
Allied Matters Act 2020, CAMA, signed by President Muhammadu Buhari as satanic.
HURIWA said the amended CAMA Act
was an affront on democracy and aimed at instilling dictatorship in Nigeria.
The rights advocacy group urged
the “Federal government to immediately expunge toxic provisions in the amended
CAMA Act 2020 which seeks to disempower Non-Governmental bodies and churches
and silence independent voices and opinions.
The group says the move is a
”direct affront on constitutional democracy and a new form of dictatorship.”
A statement signed by the right
group’s National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko says it is backing Bishop David
Oyedepo of the Living Faith Church and the Christian Association of Nigeria,
CAN, in their position on the CAMA Act.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on
August 7, 2020, signed the amended CAMA Act into law.
Reacting, both Oyedepo and CAN
had faulted the Act, described as satanic and ungodly legislation directed
against the church.
However, HURIWA, in a statement,
lamented that the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, which would ensure the
enforcement of CAMA is controlled by “Hausa-Fulani.”
The statement reads partly: “A
more recent obstacle to the enjoyment of fundamental freedoms and human rights
as encapsulated in the Nigerian Constitution and international agreements that
Nigeria signed into, which includes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the African Charter
and People’s Rights is the amendments to the Company and Allied Matters Act
(CAMA) 2020, which forms the fulcrum of the statement.
“On August 7, 2020, President
Muhammadu Buhari assented to the Company and Allied Matters Act, 2020 (CAMA
2020), which repeals and replaces the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990.
The controversial section 839 (1) and (2) provides that religious bodies and
non-governmental organisations will be strictly regulated by the Registrar-General
of Corporate Affairs Commission and a supervising minister.
“The law also wields power to
suspend the trustees of an association or a religious body and appoint an
interim manager or managers to coordinate its affairs where it reasonably
believes that there had been any misconduct or mismanagement, or where the
affairs of the association are being run fraudulently or where it is necessary
or desirable for the purpose of public interest.
“On the crest of the desire of
the people, the bill that sought to bring the religious organisations and NGOs
under the control and influence of the government was rejected because it would
kill the church, but regrettably it is now smuggled into CAMA through the
ambush and making the rejected bill a law.
“This is of utmost concern
because the establishment of a church has a spiritual foundation and the
invitation of a manager who obviously does not share the spiritual insight of
the founders of the church would undermine the church, insidiously defeating
its purpose. How can a secular and political minister be the final authority on
the affairs and management of another institution which is not political?
“Again, we discovered that CAC which will control Churches and NGOs has always been controlled by Hausa Fulani Moslem Northerners since inception. Even when Mrs. Azinge acted briefly, President Buhari brought up kangaroo charges of non-declaration of assets to unseat her so as to make way for the candidate of the Moslems, controlled from the Sultanate in Sokoto. How then can a non-Christian head of government ministry be empowered to determine the running of the church as envisaged by the CAMA 2020?
“The amendment to CAMA is an NGO
Bill in disguise because what NASS failed to do before through the NGO Bill
they have now achieved through the backdoor. Obviously, the legislative &
regulatory agenda of the present NASS as illustrated in several of their
proposed legislations appears to be aimed at attacking freedom of speech &
civil space and to abrogate property & economic rights.
“The clause in section 839 of
CAMA which shows that an order of court is required to suspend the trustees of
an NGO under that section the extant principles of Nigerian administrative law
are adequate to ensure that the wrongful exercise of the regulatory powers of
the CAC are brought under the supervisory control of the courts is misleading
and deceptive owing to the sabotage and the undermining going on in our
nation’s judicial system.
“HURIWA is totally in support of
Rev. David Oyedepo and the organised body of Christians that opposed the
amendments. We join our voices with theirs to task the federal government to
immediately expunge those toxic provisions. We also urge Nigerians to institute
multiple court cases to challenge these illegalities.
“Just like CAN rightly noted,
Nigeria should not be compared with any other nation when it comes to the
relationship between the religious institutions and the government. In Nigeria,
people’s religions are tied to their humanity and of course, their life. How
can the government sack the trustees of a church which it contributed no dime
to establish? In other climes, bodies registered as charities enjoy some forms
of funding support from the public fund so such stringent rules on management
are permissible but not the same position in Nigeria in which the Nigerian
government has no role in the funding of non-governmental bodies.
“In Nigeria, there is a clear
separation between church and state and it is strange for the government to
enjoy the arbitrary powers to suo moto nominate trustees for organisations that
are Non-Governmental because this is a direct injury to the operational
independence of non-governmental groups and a way to kill the vibrancy of the
civil society.”
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