In a bid to get the federal government to amend the controversial Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 recently signed by President Muhammadu Buhari, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) may take legal action against the government.

President Buhari signed CAMA into law on Friday, August 7, 2020, but CAN and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) have criticized the law, describing it as satanic, ungodly and anti-Christian.

In a recent interview with The Punch, Pastor Bayo Oladeji, the Special Adviser on Media to the CAN President, Rev Supo Ayokunle, said the association will look at options available to it to get CAMA amended.

Asked if CAN would consider legal action to get the law amended, Oladeji said, “Why don’t you let us get to that bridge before we cross it? Do you want us to open our arsenals and tell the whole world our weapon? Let them (the government) reject first.

“We have already told them our position. I have been going through what a spokesperson of the National Assembly said that we can bring in our own suggestions or amendment. We are looking at that option and our lawyers are working on it. The court is there. Our stand is that we are going to follow every lawful means to make sure that the obnoxious law is amended.

“The purpose of the law is to bring peace and order and not to cause a crisis. The government is not doing well at all. Our stand is to let them amend the law and if they say no, we (the government) are not going to amend the law, we will look for the next action to be taken.”

Also criticizing the law, Bishop Emmah Isong, the National Publicity Secretary, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, said the federal government copied CAMA from abroad without consulting churches and ministries in Nigeria.

Isong said, “The PFN totally disagrees with CAMA. It was not done in alliance with the present situation of democracy in Nigeria. It was not done in consultation with churches and ministries. So, it is a breach of our constitutional rights.

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“This is not a priority for this present government. Our priority is the security of lives and property. Our priority is to revive the economy. Our priority is to fight corruption. Our priority is not to fight already established institutions which are running well.

“These laws thrived in UK because the laws of Britain even support the church. Nigeria went to Britain to hijack and copy a law. They don’t know the modus operandi. In UK and USA, if you pay the tithe, the tithe is refunded as taxation. But Nigeria does not have such provision. They copy and they do not know the other side of the coin.”

However, the Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr Benjamin Kalu, has called on CAN and PFN to approach their representatives in the National Assembly to seek an amendment of the law. 

“The people who are complaining at the moment are supposed to have compliance officers in their various organisations and they ought to know when this law was coming up and what it was bringing on board, to be able to make their input at the public hearing. If they did not do that, they also share in the blame.

“If there are gaps, as being agitated, there is still a room for an adjustment to be made. It is not right to call it time bomb at the moment. It is not a time bomb because there is still a constitutional window created for the adjustment of any piece of legislation that is made for the people. Those who are concerned at the moment should look for the window, which is called amendment," Kalu said. 

A section of the Companies and Allied Matters Bill, 2020 recently signed into law provides that religious bodies and charity organisations in the country will be regulated by the registrar-general of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and a supervising minister.