Bishop David Oyedepo, presiding bishop of Living Faith Church Worldwide, has condemned the application of the Company and Allied Matters Acts (CAMA) in churches.
“The church works on the pattern delivered by God not the pattern of man. Government has no power to appoint people over churches. This is a secular nation. The church is the greatest asset of God in this country. Please be warned. Judgment is coming,” Oyedepo said while addressing members of his congregation on Sunday in Ota Ogun State.
President Muhammadu Buhari signed CAMA into law on August 7, 2020. This provides that religious bodies and charity organisations will be strictly regulated by the Registrar-General of Corporate Affairs Commission and a supervising minister.
Under this new CAMA, the commission may by order, suspend the trustees of an association or a religious body and appoint an interim manager or managers to coordinate its affairs where it reasonably believes that there has been any misconduct or mismanagement, or where the affairs of the association are being run fraudulently or where it is necessary or desirable for the purpose of public interest.
There had been attempts in the past to subject the churches to financial regulatory process like the Code of Corporate Governance introduced in 2016 by the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria which stipulated a 20-year tenure or 70-year age limit for heads of not-for-profit organisations, such as churches and mosques.
The furore generated by the Code which was seen as targeting the popular leader of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye who was 74 then, led to the suspension of the code and the firing of the Executive Secretary of the Council, Jim Obazee, who insisted on the code’s implementation
Oyedepo, while addressing members of his congregation on Sunday, said such laws were borne of out the government’s jealousy about the prosperity recorded by the church.
Oyedepo questioned the rationality behind subjecting churches to the same laws as companies, describing the church as God’s heritage on earth.
“The church is God’s heritage on earth. Molest the wife of somebody and you will see the anger of that person. The church is the bride of Christ. You know how a strong man is when you tamper with his wife. The church is the body of Christ. We are under obligation to give warnings to wicked rulers so we could be free from their blood,” he said.
The Lord says I have been still but now I will arise. Anybody that is in this deal is taking poison. This will never work. I am waiting for a day when anybody will appoint a trustee over this church… You can’t gag anybody. We own this country together.
“It is only in Africa that people who are over 80 years still run around to become president. I know that it is the prosperity of the church that is making them jealous. But I am going to live to see an army of many winners soar greater. In this church shall emerge one of the largest concentration of giants on earth.”
