Religious groups and CSOs rail against Senate’s bill pushed by Muslims to subjugate Christianity
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
A coalition of religious groups and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) has decried the imminent passage of a bill to regulate and set standards for the practice of Christian religion in Nigeria that has scaled second reading in the 9th Senate presided over by Ahmad Lawan, a Muslim.
The activists raised the alarm in Lagos at the weekend.
The bill seeking to create a National Centre for Christian Education (NCCE), sponsored by Senator Binos Yaroe (PDP, Adamawa South), scaled second reading on May 14.
If the bill eventually gets passed by a Committee of the Whole Senate and scales third reading it will be sent to the House of Representatives for passage.
If the bill is passed by the House of Representatives, whose Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, is a Muslim, it will be transmitted to President Bola Tinubu for assent into law. Tinubu is a Muslim, likewise Vice President Kashim Shettima.
There is no such bill on Islam, whose practitioners will rise up in arms if an attempt were made to regulate their religion.
The Bible is the only authority that regulates Christian conduct, just as Muslims rely on the Quoran and nothing else.
The bill to regulate Christianity mainly by Muslims is another throwback to the yearnings of Ahmadu Bello in the era of yore for Islam to rule Nigeria from the Sahara to the Atlantic, a crusade picked up by Muhammadu Buhari who Islamised the federal government to a great degree during his tenure as President for eight years.
Former Kaduna Governor, a die-hard Islamist jihadist, recently boasted on tape – which circulated online two weeks ago – that the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the Tinubu/Shettima presidency was plotted by Northerners to advance the cause of Islamising Nigeria.
Many Northern states already banned the teaching of Christian Religious Knowledge in primary and secondary schools, as confirmed earlier this month by former House of Representatives member, Kwewum Rimamnde (Donga/Ussa/Takum/Special Area Federal Constituency in Taraba).
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Constitutional violates
Sonnie Ekwowusi a human rights lawyer and representative of the CSOs, insisted the bill violates Sections 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, and 42 of the 1999 Constitution and Articles 2, 8, 9, 17, 18, 27, 28, and 29 of the African Charter on Human & Peoples’ Rights (Ratification Enforcement) Act, per reporting by The Guardian.
He disclosed the sponsors of the bill plan to sensitise the public on it at a summit scheduled for between June 22 and 23 in Abuja, which he said is “preposterous” in a multi-religious and secular state such as Nigeria.
Ekwowusi argued the bill infringes on the right of citizens to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, as well as being an unjustified intrusion of the state into the practice of the Christian religion.
Another lawyer, Ben Abraham, said the sponsors of the bill fail to understand the separation of state and church, also known as separation of religion and government in a presidential democracy, and secular state such as Nigeria.
His words: “They do not understand that the functions and responsibilities of the government and the church should be kept separate and that the government should not promote or favour any particular religion or religious institution, let alone delve into prescribing syllabuses for religious schools and modes of worship for any particular religion.
“The value of democracy stands or falls with the fundamental values that it embodies and promotes.
“A democratic government ought to conduct its activities in line with the will and aspirations of the people. Any democracy that violates the inalienable human rights of citizens is despotism par excellence, even though it externally wears the toga of democracy.”
The CSOs opposed to the bill include
- Foundation for African Cultural Heritage (FACH)
- Project for Human Development (PHD)
- Global Pro-life Alliance (GPA)
- Doctors Health Initiative
- Happy Home Foundation
- Association of Concerned Mothers
- Nigerian Life League
- Islamic Education Trust
- Association of Catholic Medical Practitioners of Nigeria
- Knights of St. Mulumba
- Others are Blissful Life for Youth Empowerment
- Nigerian Association for Women Advancement
- Catholic Lawyers Association; Sympathy Worldwide Organisation
- Life Choice International Initiative, Good Parenting and Youth Empowerment Initiative
- Foundation for Marriage and Family
- Centre for Corrections and Human Development
- Islamic Platform of Nigeria
