The Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, says pastors in the country are willing to be accountable.
Osinbajo made this known on Thursday while speaking on the controversial Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020, at the 60th virtual conference of the Nigerian Bar Association.
At the conference with the theme, ‘Step Forward’, the Vice President advised religious leaders who have concerns regarding the recently amended law to put their concerns in a proposal and forward it to the National Assembly for possible amendment.
But top clerics in the country like the Presiding Bishop of the Living Faith Church Worldwide aka Winners’ Chapel, David Oyedepo; as well as the Christian Association of Nigeria and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, amongst others, have rejected the law, especially the section 839 (1) and (2) of the law which empowers the supervising minister “to suspend trustees of an association (in this case, the church) and appoint the interim managers to manage the affairs of the association for some given reasons.”
When asked why Nigerian pastors are allegedly refusing to be accountable when some of them, who have churches in the United Kingdom and some other countries, obey similar laws as CAMA, Osinbajo said, “As a general position, I do not think it is right to say that pastors do not want to be accountable. As a matter of fact, as you know I am a pastor, I know that question is also partly directed to me. But I must say that is not the case. I believe that several Christian organisations and pastors are willing to be accountable.
