The Church Reacts To The Signing Of The New CAMA Into Law
As expected, since August 7th, 2020 when the President of Nigeria, Major General Muhammadu Buhari ( retd.) signed the Companies and Allied Matters Act into law, there have been a lot of positive and negative reactions from all quarters including the Church that seems to have been the major target of the new Companies and Allied Matters Act.
Church organizations and Christian personnels (notable and non-notable) have expressed their opinions on the recently signed Companies and Allied Matters Act, some of which have been documented below, but before proceeding, I believe there's a need for you to know a little about CAMA and what it stands for.
The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) was established by the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) to regulate the formation and management of companies in Nigeria.
Their functions include:
1) Overseeing and regulating the formation, incorporation, management and winding up of companies.
2) Institution and maintenance of company's registry.
3) Underseek the affairs of any company where the interests of the shareholders and the public so demand.
As a follow-up to my preamble, below are reactions from Christians concerning the recently signed Companies and Allied Matters Act:
1) Pastor Bayo Oladeji (Special Adviser on Media to CAN President).
In an interview conducted with Pastor Bayo Oladeji, the Special Adviser on Media to the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev Supo Ayokunle, expresses CAN’s displeasure with the recently signed Companies and Allied Matters Act. When asked what the reaction of Christian Association of Nigeria to the Act was, he said:
“Let me begin by saying that the government is there to make laws, rules and regulations which govern our society. We are not against that constitutional responsibility. But where the law is against the freedom of worship, where the law is against the ground norm which is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, we will not welcome it. The Christian Association of Nigeria rejects the entire CAMA. We kick against it. To us, it is an ill wind which blows no good to anyone. The Act is ungodly and it is a wicked provision. This is because if you say the Act on the surface is for the non-governmental organisations and then it covers religious institutions, including churches and mosques , then we cannot keep quiet. The government has been pretending by saying the Act is for NGOs . Ideally, they are supposed to say in the law that this Act has nothing to do with religious institutions. Then we would keep quiet and there will be no problem with it. During President Buhari’s first term in office, I recall very well that the Senate and the House of Representatives conducted a public hearing on the NGOs bill and we were invited . The CAN there and then rejected the NGOs bill. Several other civil societies were there to also kick against it and the bill died at the public hearing. Everything we did at that place is now being smuggled in through CAMA . This is not good enough. This cannot be godly. It is not acceptable. This is why CAN rejects the Act and condemns it with every word you may think of.”
On further questioning, the Special Adviser on Media to the President of CAN was asked what aspect of the CAMA forms the basis of CAN’s disagreement with it, he said;
“There is a contentious section of the law which states that the commission has power to dissolve the Board of Trustees of an association and even appoint a caretaker committee or their own people to be there . We know what recently played out when the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) took over the management of some banks; they brought in their own people. The CBN has the discretion to appoint outsiders to manage the banks till today. So, if the government says their intention is good and their motives and objectives are good, what happens if another government comes to power later and starts abusing the laws, what are we going to do? So, it is a law that we can regard as a time bomb and if it explodes, it will not help this country. We have enough issues on our hands to deal with; we have terrorism, banditry , kidnapping and all manner of criminality in this country. The government has not solved these problems yet, it is bringing in another controversy. What do they stand to gain from this law? Initially, they were telling us that some of the NGOs collected money from abroad and abused it by using the money to support or finance terrorism and terrorist groups. Okay, can they accuse any church of promoting terrorism or supporting criminality? So, if you want to restrict NGOs, state clearly that the religious centres are exempted. Some apologists say, after all, it is the courts that will dissolve the boards of trustees and appoint new persons, and not the government. Who says the courts cannot be manipulated? We have been in this country long enough to know that. Look at what is happening at the election tribunals. The Federal High Court says one thing and the state High Court says another thing. The Court of Appeal makes a decision and the Supreme Court reverses it. So, what is going to happen if we get to that stage? So, this is our fear.”
2) Bishop David O. Oyedepo (Founder and Presiding Bishop of Faith Tabernacle).
Bishop David O. Oyedepo while addressing the members of his congregation said the decision is borne out of jealousy of the church’s growth. In his words:
“The church works on the pattern delivered by God not the pattern of man. The government has no power to appoint people over churches. This is a secular nation. The church is the greatest asset of God in this country. Please be warned. Judgment is coming. The Lord says I have been still but now I will arise. Anybody that is in this deal is taking poison. This will never work. I am waiting for a day when anybody will appoint a trustee over this church… You can’t gag anybody. We own this country together. It is only in Africa that people who are over 80 years still run around to become president. I know that it is the prosperity of the church that is making them jealous. But I am going to live to see an army of many winners soar greater. In this church shall emerge one of the largest concentrations of giants on earth.”
3) Vice President (and Pastor) Professor Yemi Osinbajo.
The Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has urged those who have concerns about the recently signed Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020 to approach the National Assembly.
He said such persons can get possible amendments, since “We are in a democracy.”
Prof. Osinbajo spoke at the ongoing Nigeria Bar Association Annual General Conference during a Special Conversation.
He said,
“we have a process by which this can be redressed. Whatever the proposal for amendment may be, whatever the view of the leadership of the Church may be, regarding the question of how the trustees, whether they are interim trustees or not, can be put into a proposal that will be brought to the National Assembly for consideration for an amendment to the law, that is the process which is entirely opened and ought to be pursued. We are in a democracy and there is a process by which things can be done and that process is the one where you bring forward amendments to the National Assembly and they will do whatever is considered useful in the circumstance.”
Speaking about the fears expressed by the Church, the Vice President said:
“what the Churches are concerned about is a provision that says that in the event that some wrong-doing is found to be perpetrated by the trustees of the particular organization or Church, the Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) can go to court and get an order to appoint interim administrators or interim trustees for the Church or whichever charity organization and manage the organization.”
“The concern of the Churches is that it could lead to a situation where practically anybody could be appointed as a trustee to oversee the Church and a Church or a Mosque is a spiritual organization and if you do not share the same faith with the Church or Mosque, you may be the wrong person and if a wrong is appointed, you may create more trouble for the organization,” the Vice President added
When asked by the moderator (Nduka Ogbeibena) if pastors are, by their actions, unwilling to be accountable in the management of their organizations, the Vice President said the issue is rather the fear of abuse of the law than avoiding accountability.
According to Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, “As a general position, I do not think it will be right to say that pastors don’t want to be accountable. I believe that several Christian organizations and pastors are willing to be accountable. The problems that they may have is ensuring that processes are not abused in such a way as to compromise the entire organization. And I think that if all that is required is some process of accountability, I think it will be easier for organizations to accept that.”
The Global Church Watch thinks the Government has no right to interfere in matters related to the Church. This might be happening in developed countries like the United States of America (USA), but the Nigerian government, unlike those in developed countries are unreliable and cannot be trusted, as they have failed to show competence and credibility in running the affairs of the country in other areas. What makes them think we'll believe they can be trusted to run the affairs of the Church? What testimonies have they? The system in which the Church operates is Divine. Besides, it is ethically wrong to make laws, especially one as important as this without inviting it's stakeholders. These and many more reasons makes us believe that these laws are satanic and have been enacted to destroy the Church (the body of Christ) which is all caps IMPOSSIBLE.
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