The Buhari Media Organization have asked critics of the newly signed Company and Allied Matters Act, 2020 (CAMA) act responsibly as they cannot threaten a valid law.
The group said this in a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, while reacting to another statement credited to the Supreme Primate of the World Council of Bishops, Polycarp Sunday.
“Our attention has been drawn to a statement by a self-styled Supreme Primate of the World Council of Bishops, Polycarp Sunday, who described CAMA 2020 as illegality as well as an attack on the Church.
“We wonder how he could brashly suggest that churches in Nigeria cannot be subjected to the laws of the land, and at the same time claim that ‘Nigeria as a nation under democracy is safeguarded by constitutional provisions’.
“So what is the essence of his ill-thought criticism of CAMA if he concedes that constitutional provisions are a country’s guiding principles? We don’t want to assume that he is calling for different religious groups to be governed by the laws spelt out in their various books to the detriment of the nation’s laws.
It said CAMA does not offend any constitutional provisions neither does it take away the right to freedom of worship.
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“We, however, recognise that what ‘Prophet’ Polycarp Sunday is doing is not different from what he did in the run-up to the 2019 general election when he expressed a wish for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to win.
We, however, urge him to stick to his ‘calling’, the statement added.
It wondered what individuals and groups are afraid of in the new law.
. “Have Churches and Islamic groups not always been subjected to regulations under the old CAMA as incorporated trustees?” It asked.
“What we know however is that in every country on earth, there are reasonable laws and statutory guidelines within which churches and other charitable organisations must operate. In the United States, there is a Church Audit Procedures Act (CAPA) while the UK has a similar law on the incorporation of trustees that all churches and charitable organizations abide by.
“And like many Nigerians, we wonder how opening up books for scrutiny obstructs the right to worship or the right of association.
“Besides, there is no way a trustee or trustees could be removed without a petition by members and a valid court order”.
It assured that the president had no ulterior motives with law, and called those speeding the rumours “religious bigots.”
