FACE-OFF: CAN, Ulamas disagree with El-Rufai over preaching bill

The bill is simply titled, ‘A Bill for a Law to

Substitute the Kaduna State Religious Preaching

Law, 1984.’ It is the intention of the state

government that when it is signed into law, it will

be known as ‘The Religious Preaching Law of

2015.’

But with the controversy generated by the bill

which has passed the second reading on the floor

of thwwe Kaduna State House of Assembly, there

are indications that the piece of legislation may

not enjoy a smooth passage like previous bills.

Since the provision of the bill became public,

umbrella organizations representing the two

major religious groups, Christianity and Islam, in

the state, whose members will be the target of

the proposed laww, have reacted to it, with some

of them opposing it completely.

The executive arm of the government in Kaduna

State has submitted 21 bills to the current

Assembly, out of which 13 has been passed into

law.

But the bill, which has generated a lot of interest

within and outside the country, has proved a hard

row to hoe, compelling the state government to

hold consultations with major stakeholders.

Both the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)

and the Council of Imams and Ulamas in Kaduna

State, have expressed various reservations at

certain sections of the law.

Last week the state government met with

members of the CAN, where it made efforts to

explain to them the details of the bill.

Before going into a closed door, the state deputy

governor, Barnabas Yusuf Bala, expressed

surprise at the magnitude of reactions that trailed

the proposal, noting that it had been given all

sorts of interpretations.

He said the state government was aware of

certain preachers who had even passed what he

called a fatwa (a ruling on a point of Islamic law)

on the state governor on account of the details of

the bill, saying it was time to educate the

populace about what it entails.

Sources in the meeting revealed that the CAN

officials, after listening to the deputy governor,

stuck to their positions on certain aspects of the

bill that did not go with the grain of their religious

practice and would want them amended.

It was learnt that the deputy governor could not

make any conclusive statement on the matter,

since the governor was not around and that the

two sides decided that dialogue on the issue

should be continuous.

The state’s council of Ulamas has equally

described the bill as replete with grey areas.

A source in the Kaduna Government House, who

spoke with our correspondent in confidence,

blamed the controversy on the manner it was

handled by the government agency responsible

for sensitizing the public on such issues.

He said when the bill was submitted to the House,

the Kaduna State Bureau for Religious Affairs did

not do proper ground work to educate the people

to set the mood for receiving the law, adding that

this gave the people the latitude to interpret the

law ‘the way they liked.’

Our correspondent confirmed from a reliable

source that Governor Nasir El-rufai has not been

happy with the reactions to the bill.

But the Kaduna State Government insisted that

the bill was only aimed at protecting the state

from religious extremism and hate speech.

While hosting the CAN delegation, the deputy

governor said the government had a duty to

ensure that religious violence no longer

threatened the state, stressing that the Kaduna

State government was committed to ensuring that

religion can be practised in a safe and secure

climate.

“We swore to uphold the Constitution which

recognizes the freedom of religion and thought as

fundamental rights. The same Constitution

obliges us to ensure the safe exercise of these

rights by legislating in the interest of public safety,

public order, public morality or public health, and

for the purpose of protecting the rights and

freedom of other persons.

“This is not a new law. It has existed since 1984,

with amendments in 1987 and 1996. The military

governments which created the law were

responding to outbreaks of religious violence,

such as Maitatsine in 1983 and the riots after the

Kafanchan incident of 1987.

“This is the first time that the legislation is passing

through a democratic process, with all the

transparency that the public hearing and other

legislative processes of the House of Assembly

entails. Proposing this amendment is a deliberate

decision by the government to subject the law to

a democratic process, rather than just enforce the

provisions of the edict as passed since 1984.

“Kaduna State has a history of religious/sectarian

crisis and what this bill seeks to do is not anything

new but to learn from the painful experience and

discourage the use of religion for violence and

division. The bill, by virtue of Section 45(1) of the

1999 Constitution, is in order and does not offend

the provisions of the Constitution.

“There is nothing in the bill that suggests any

effort to abolish, stop or derogate on the

freedom of religion and religious beliefs. It merely

seeks to ensure that religious preaching and

activities in the state are conducted in ways that

do not threaten public order, public safety, and to

protect the rights and freedom of other persons.”

What the bill proposes

A copy of the proposed preaching law seen by

Daily Trust on Sunday shows that the law, if

passed, will regulate the activities of the followers

of the two main religions in the state.

According to the document, the regulatory bodies

shall be a committee of Jama’atul Nasril-Islam

(JNI) with equal representation of Izala and

Darika religious groups in the case of Muslims’, a

committee set up by the Christian Association of

Nigeria in the case of Christians, and an inter-faith

ministerial committee to be appointed by the

governor.

It further says that the inter-faith ministerial

committee will interface between the JNI and CAN

committees, in addition to exercising supervisory

control over them.

The members will comprise a chairman, to be

appointed by the state governor on the

recommendation of the Secretary to the State

Government; the Special Adviser to the Governor

on Internal Security; the most senior official of

the government advising the governor on

interfaith matters; a member representing JNI

and CAN; representative of the Ministry of Justice;

and one representative each from the Nigeria

Police, the Department of State Security and the

Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps not

below the rank of Superintendent of Police or its

equivalent.

The committee will have the power to approve

licences for issuance to religious preachers by the

religious bodies, with such licences covering a

period of one year.

The bill also proposes the establishment of

committees in all the local governments in the

state to screen applications for licences from

preachers and make recommendations to the

ministerial committee for approval.

On their parts, the local government committees

will be responsible for ensuring compliance with

the terms of the licences issued and registering

accredited preachers of all religious groups and

organizations operating in the local government

areas.

It also places the responsibility of keeping records

of churches and mosques in the state on the

shoulders of the JNI and CAN.

Also, the proposed law provided guidelines for

the use of cassettes, CDs, Flash drives or any

other communication gadgets containing religious

recordings from accredited preachers, stating that

such materials may only be played inside one’s

house, inside entrance porch (zaure), inside the

church and any other designated place of

worship.

“A person who commits an offence under the

provisions of this law shall be liable on conviction

to a term of imprisonment not exceeding two

years or an option of N250,000 [fine] or both; and

have his licence revoked,” the bill states.

It lists offences under the law to include

preaching without a valid licence, playing religious

cassette or using a loudspeaker for religious

purposes after 8pm in public place, using a

loudspeaker for religious purposes other than

inside a Mosque or Church and the surrounding

areas outside the stipulated prayer times and

using a loudspeaker in vehicles plying the streets

with religious recording.

Other punishable offences under the proposed

law are: abusing religious books, inciting

disturbance of the public peace, abusing or using

any derogatory term in describing any religion

and carrying weapons of any description whether

concealed or not in places of worship or to any

other place with a view to causing religious

disturbance.

The bill also seeks to empower Sharia Courts and

Customary Courts to try violators summarily and

“shall, on conviction, give orders for the forfeiture

or destruction of any vehicle, equipment,

instrument, gadget or book or other materials

carrying any offensive message.”

It’s totally unacceptable - CAN

Reactions to the proposed law have varied

according to understanding, perceptions and

interpretations of the intent of the bill.

The Secretary of the Kaduna State Chapter of

CAN, Reverend Sunday Ibrahim, said the

association had decided not to accept the bill.

“We are saying ‘no’ to the bill because there are a

lot of issues in the bill that we are not

comfortable with. It says a preacher is a person

duly licenced by JNI or CAN. The truth is that CAN

has no right to licence any preacher because

every church and ministry has been registered

with the Corporate Affairs Commission.

“The Book of Mark 16:15, says: ‘Go into the world

and preach to every creature.’ That is a general

call on everyone and as such, everyone is a

preacher. We also have the specific call, which has

to do with people that are called to be pastors,

evangelists, prophets, teachers and the rest of

them. These categories of people undergo

training with a particular denomination, while

they are licensed and ordained by those

churches. So, it is not going to work for anyone to

say he is going to license them,” Rev. Ibrahim

declared.

The CAN secretary explained that the association

is made up of five blocs, including the Christian

Council of Nigeria (CCN), TEKAN-ECWA, Catholic

Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN), Organization of

African Instituted Churches (OAIC),which is the

body for white garment churches, then the PPFN

made up of The Apostolic, Christ Apostolic

churches, while the PFN is made up of other

pentecostal churches.

CAN also quarrels with restricting religious

activities to particular times. “As Christians, Jesus

taught us how to pray always. We do all-night

(night vigil), which cannot work based on what the

bill is providing,” the secretary said.

He said CAN was also not comfortable with the

composition of the committee. “The portion that

says: ‘The Sharia Courts and Customary Courts

shall have jurisdiction to try violators of this law

summarily and shall on conviction give orders for

the forfeiture or destruction of any vehicle,

equipment, instrument, gadget or book or other

material carrying any offensive message.’ The bill

did not tell us who is to be prosecuted by which

court.

“Furthermore, we discovered that there is no

fairness when you say you are summarily

prosecuting someone without giving him/her a

fair hearing that he/she can appeal. We are also

saying that as a church, it is on record that we

have never caused any problem in terms of going

out to preach. We are well organized; we know

those that come in and those that go out. We

often have programmes involving preachers from

outside the state, but the bill is saying such

preachers must get a ‘permit’ before they can

come in to preach. Again, this is against the

African Charter, as all the African leaders have

agreed on that, that there is freedom of

association. But this bill will infringe on the

constitutional rights of the Christians.”

He said since the 1984 law had not been

enforced, the issue of saying it was only amended

did not arise.

It’s full of grey areas – Kaduna Ulamas

The chairman of the Council of Imams and

Ulamas, Kaduna State Chapter, Sheikh Abubakar

Usman Babantune, in his reaction said, it was not

possible to establish such an important law that

affects religion without consulting Ulamas.

“But the government told us then that the bill is

not with them because it has been forwarded to

the state House of Assembly. Therefore, the

Council of which I’m the leader decided to send a

letter to the state House of Assembly demanding

to know the situation of the bill. Thanks be to

Allah the council met with the lawmakers and

they promised to look at it carefully and that

there is no way the bill would be passed into law

without hearing the position of the Council of

Ulamas and what the people think about it.

“This is why presently we cannot say anything with

regards to the bill because we have a lot to say

about it. First of all, there are many grey areas in

the bill which we feel need to be amended.

“Another thing is that after we got a copy of the

bill, the council of Ulamas decided to translate the

bill into Hausa language for proper

understanding, because it was written in English.

We distributed the bill to all the Imams and

Ulamas that we knew would need it in the state.

We told them to read through, after which we all

met and set up a committee to study the bill and

come up with a solution or advice on the way

forward.”

He said the council was not happy with the

section that said, an Interfaith ministerial

committee shall inter-face between the JNI and

CAN and exercise supervisory control over them

and be responsible for issuance of licence to

preachers.

“That the state governor will establish the state

committee and appoint the leader; that the

person to chair the committee would be the

governor’s adviser on internal security; and that

among the members of the committee are

representatives of the Ministry of Justice, Nigerian

police, DSS, Civil Defence Corps, a member each

of JNI and CAN.

“When you look at all those representatives in the

committee, only one is representing Muslims -

and that is the same as Christians. They now said

these are the people that will speak on behalf of

preachers in the state. This is only one example

out of so many grey areas that we found in the

bill,” he said.

He also expressed reservations on the parts of

the law banning preaching and the use of

loudspeakers after 8pm in places of worship in

the state. “This is wrong and there are similar

sections in the bill. We will do our best to ensure

that they are corrected,” he said.

It’s not a new law – JNI

However, the Kaduna State branch of the JNI,

through its chairman, Malam Ja’faru Makarfi,

holds a different view.

Speaking to Daily Trust on Sunday in Kaduna,

Ja’faru said the proposed bill was not new to the

body, adding that the JNI had been regulating

public preaching by its Muslim scholars for over

five decades.

“We at the JNI have been regulating public

preaching since the era of the Sardauna of

Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello. When Ahmed

Mohammed Makarfi was the governor of Kaduna

State, he wanted to propose a bill on preaching

and we told him that we already had a bill

restricting preaching.

“Unfortunately, the Christian Association of

Nigerian (CAN) protested it when Joseph Hayab

was the Secretary (you may wish to call him for

further information). They even went ahead to

make a publication in the New Nigerian

Newspaper, saying they will not regulate

preaching and the government should let them

be,” he said.

The chairman said when the Kaduna State

Pilgrims Board was established, the leadership

also wanted to put a law in place for public

preaching, but the JNI reminded them that there

was a law which had been taken to the State

House of Assembly but was not passed into law

‘because the Christians opposed it.’

“Now that the present government is trying to

regulate public preaching, our position still stands

the same; we are solidly behind the regulation of

public preaching, because as Muslims, we are

taught to follow rules and regulations, a Muslim

preacher should not go out in the public and start

abusing the citizenry all in the name of

preaching,” he said.

It’s illegal to place JNI, CAN above others -

Okoye

Human rights lawyer, Festus Okoye, in his

reaction described the bill as a direct affront to

the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of

Nigeria.

“My candid advice is that the bill should be

withdrawn, properly aligned and cleaned up

before it is represented to the state assembly for

passage into law. This is because almost all the

provisions of the bill are a direct affront to the

constitutional order and this may affect the

positives of the bill, including the mischievous

positioning and use and misuse of loudspeakers

in mosques and churches to the annoyance of

others.

He said since the Constitution was the Supreme

Law of the land, when it covered a field in relation

to an issue, no state assembly was permitted to

legislate on and or refine or contradict its

provisions.

“They know that Section 38 of the Constitution

guarantees that every person shall be entitled to

freedom of thought, conscience and religion,

including freedom to change his religion or belief

and freedom (either alone or in a community with

others, and in public or in private) to manifest

and propagate his religion or belief in worship,

teaching, practice and observance.

“This particular bill fails all constitutional tests and

cannot for all practical purposes be said to be a

bill which when passed into law will be justifiable

in a democratic society in the interest of defence,

public safety, public order, public morality or

public health; or for the purpose of protecting the

rights and freedom of other persons.”

He said it is also illegal and unconstitutional to

elevate the JNI and the CAN to a preeminent

position over and above every other religious

group or Association.

“The Jama’atu Nasri Islam (JNI) and the Christian

Association of Nigeria (CAN) enjoy the same

incidents of registration and incorporation as any

other association registered under part B and C of

the Companies and Allied Matters Act. They are

associations just like any other association

recognized by the Constitution and the bill cannot

confer them with a special status over and above

any other groups similarly registered.

“For the Christian association of Nigeria there is

nothing that makes it mandatory that every

Christian denomination must belong to the

association. As at now, the Catholic Church has

suspended its membership of CAN at the national

level. What that means is that if it suspends its

membership at the state and local government

level, it will become a pariah and cannot be issued

with license.”