Assembly may pass Religious Censor Bill without public hearing

A Nigeria North Western State legislature is set to pass into law, an executive bill presented to them by the governor, Nasir Ahmad Elrufai, seeking to regulate religious preaching.

The bill for a law to substitute the Kaduna State Religious Preaching Law, 1984 will license all clerics in the state including quest speakers if passed into law.

Pulse gathered that the bill is in conflict with the Section Four of the Nigeria Constitution on the right to worship.If passed into law, the governor will have the sole power to appoint individuals to issue or not licenses for people willing to preach in designated areas of the state.

Section Four of the bill is demanding that the two major religions in the state, Christianity and Islam will be regulated by a committee of Jama’atu Nasil Islam- with equal representation of Izala and Darika in case of Muslim and Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for Christians.

It was gathered that an Inter-faith Ministerial Committee will be appointed by the governor to exercise supervisory control over CAN and JNI.

The bill which has scaled through first and second reading and now at a committee level, had secured input from CAN and JNI without a public hearing.

“Let me tell you, all processes that will make this bill to be passed into law have been completed except for the public hearing. The committee members are working very fast to pass the bill and not necessarily calling for a public hearing” a source at the Kaduna State House of Assembly said.

A member of the joint Committee, who is also the Assembly’s committee chairman on Judiciary, Irimiya Kantiyok could not immediately comment.

Pulse gathered that the bill which has been summarized into 15 points, is also seeking to issue license to all preachers in the state for a period not exceeding one year. External preachers will be licensed within the period of their programmes in Kaduna, it was gathered.

All licensed preachers would be registered and accredited to preach in all the local governments while clerics without license, or people who plays religious cassette or uses a loudspeaker for religious purposes after 8pm in a public place, uses a loudspeaker in vehicle plying the streets with religious recordings, abuses religious books or uses any derogatory terms in describing any religion among others shall be liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment not exceeding two years or a fine of N200,000.00 or both or have his license revoked.

According to the bill, Sharia Courts and Customary Courts shall have jurisdiction to try violators. On conviction, the courts shall give orders for the forfeiture or destruction of any vehicle, equipment, instrument, gadget or book or other material carrying anything view as offensive.