BY Ebuka Nwankwo
With the proposed law in Kaduna State, any Christian who feels he has been called by God would have to allow government (oh sorry, a committee set up by government) to verify the call. Interesting, isn’t it? In this article, I will advise Christians to get involved in politics. Not because I want them to contest elections, or to support any political party, or to get appointments and contracts, but because I want them to have a say in what goes on in the society. This article wouldn’t have been necessary if I had observed that most Christians were politically active – most are not because they believe they can pray their way out of all problems. These docile Christians, by my analysis, are actually the very sincere and honest ones among the lots.
In being political active, I don’t expect my follow Christians to fight stupid wars, though. For example, I hope you have heard that an unnamed Middle East investor is interested in funding the second Niger Bridge in the government’s proposed PPP agreement. I hope those people crying about Islamisation do not take this up.
That said, I am sure you have been following the Religious Preaching Bill in Kaduna State. El- Rufai believes that the religious preaching bill would help check clerics who promote hate speeches. This is fantastic. He gave examples, in a recent interview, of how the Boko Haram founder and other religious sects gathered followers by preaching wrong doctrines, and later turned out to be nuisance to the society. This is true. In fact, the governor’s intentions are difficult to fault. He went on to say that it was lack of regulation that led to some of these hate preachers going out of control. He implied that government, of which he is part of at the moment, have to do their work. Perfect!
In trying to make a case of the new ‘proposed’ law, he gave an example with a woman who claimed Prophet Muhammad was speaking to her. He went on to tell us how this woman’s husband started collecting money from sick people who were probably coming to see the ‘woman prophet’ for healings and miracles. The governor told us that it was incidences like this that made his government to start asking if there were laws that regulated preaching. Wow! They found one, which was promulgated in 1984, and had since gone through many amendments. This is exactly where the problem lies!
If you analyze the governor’s interview, you will be right to assume he wants to check the issue of wrong doctrines. This is dangerous. Who decides what a wrong doctrine is? To the Catholics, some of the preaching of Pentecostals are wrong doctrines, isn’t it? On the other hand, the Pentecostals think the Catholics are preaching the wrong doctrine. Interestingly, we all get our doctrines from the same bible, but we interpret it differently. Did I hear you say that at least there are some obvious wrong doctrines? Just don’t tell that to the members of the organization you think are preaching this ‘wrong’ doctrine?
Is the State now going to give the Church the right doctorine to follow? The way to deal with wrong doctorine is to continuously preach what you think is the right doctrine in a peaceful, understanding and loving way. At the end, people might follow your teachings.
From the governor’s argument, in that interview granted to journalists, it is clear that the major problem is the issue of hate speeches. I think the government of Kaduna should be reminded that hate speech is not only a problem in Kaduna, it is a problem in Europe and America. There are already laws to deal with hate speeches in the West – these laws also exist in Nigeria. For example, there are Criminal Codes which prohibit hate propaganda in Canada. If it doesn’t exist in Kaduna, they should enact it. Kaduna State shouldn’t use this opportunity to control religious leaders, as some clerics fear.
Now, this is the interesting aspect of the whole story. The Kaduna State government intends to have an inter – ministerial committee that will issue licenses and check the activities of preachers. This looks lovely on the surface. The governor says it will not be controlled by the government. The question we should be asking is how this committee would be inaugurated, funded, and its members selected? The impression I get is that government will be playing a key role in the workings of this committee that will be regulating ‘men of God’.
If any State decides to follow this route, I bet you, in 10 years from today, there would be more religious issues than we have today. Let me explain what I mean by giving an example with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). If the Chairman of CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, was to oversee the activities of the Catholic Church in any State and decide if the Church is going the right way, my view is that it will take the grace of God, which I believe is in him, to give the Catholic Church a pass mark. The Catholics have criticized him a great deal and claimed they left CAN because of the way Ayo was managing the organization.
The governor feels these set of religious merchants and hate speakers should be regulated. Perfect! He gave us some hint of what he thinks should be the minimum qualification of a religious leader. He said that the Christians he knew went through long trainings in seminaries under senior reverends. From the mindset of the governor, it would not be out of place to assume that the State will set up a regulatory body to accredit bible schools and seminaries. The State would probably determine and vet the curriculum of these bible schools, to see if it is in line with what they expect. I use the State because the State would probably determine who becomes the chairman of the inter – ministerial committee.
If the governor thinks that some religious groups take laws into their hands by blocking the roads during crusades, there are other ways to deal with this. Kaduna State should debate what constitutes hate speeches and modify their laws in this regard. They should set up panels that would monitor people who give hate speeches, and not panels that regulate churches and maybe mosques.
My view is that the governor is probably delving into an area that would throw mud at the fine job he has been doing in Kaduna. I enjoin Christians to critically study the bill and join the debate. Thus, even if the bill is finally passed, it will be in a form that will be accepted by all Christians. I am sure Muslims will also join the debate so that the law would also be favorable to them.
I understand the governor spends over 300 million naira weekly feeding kids. I hope this ‘kind’ gesture is sustainable. The governor will probably be remembered for the religious crisis he might inadvertently cause, rather than the good works he had done in Kaduna.
Contact: nwankwoebuka@yahoo.co.uk