CAMA: PFN enjoins Buhari to revisit ‘offensive clause’

CAMA: PFN enjoins Buhari to revisit ‘offensive clause’

…says those behind it are enemies of the country

Bishop Simeon Okah, Vice President, South South PFN

By Jimitota Onoyume – Warri

Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN,  has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to review what it referred as “offensive clause” in the new Companies and Allied Matters Act, CAMA, that affects churches in the country, saying those who smuggled it in were enemies of the country.

National Vice President, South-south  of the PFN, Bishop Simeon Okah spoke in Warri, Delta state, stressing that in the interest of peace, President Buhari should revisit the issue

He advised that the President should not ignore the uproar that had greeted the signing of the law, noting that the church would not keep calm while its rights were to be infringed upon with such law

Okah who is the Bishop of Flock of Christ Mission, Warri, said  regulations of churches, Non Governmental Organisations, NGOs, in developed countries such as the United States of America, Britain were mainly to  protect government investment in them since government give them grants to assist their operations

“Those who smuggled the controversial subsection 838, 1 & 2 are enemies of the nation and they know the repercussions because the Church will not sit back and watch anyone violate its rights.

“As  a widely travelled preacher, I  understand  the regulations in place in Western nations like the  US and Britain, it is basically to protect government Investment in the churches since as NGOs, they receive grants from the government and the pastors have to account for the funds”, he said

“But in Nigeria, the government has no investment whatsoever in churches and so has no moral right to regulate what it has no inputs in“, he said.

“It is not in the place of Government to attempt to remove trustees and foist a leadership on a religious organisation “, he added

While calling on the National Assembly to expunge the portion of the law for peace, Bishop Okah also called on muslims and other Nigerians to speak against the portion of the law.

He said churches had kept to laws in the country on its investment in the areas of education, hospitals and other businesses by paying the needed taxes.