If our country were in the midst of an identity crisis yesterday, today it is more divided, confused, and completely adrift towards uncharted territories. Our responsibility, my responsibility in all this, is to uphold and advance the truths of human freedom. The source of that belief, and that hope, if you like, is our capacity to rededicate ourselves to these truths endowed by our Creator, which we hold dear, applicable to all men and at all times. Apparently, in an attempt to rebut my piece (Bill Regulating Christianity lacks merit, May 2023), the Press Conference organized by Civil Societal Organizations (CSOs) rejecting the Bill, and, of course, the growing public disapproval and disavowal of the Bill, the sponsors of this Bill, who appear to be riding on the crest of some cliques in the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), organized a Summit at the Royal Choice Hall, National Christian Centre, Abuja, 22nd-23rd June in Abuja to solicit public support and sympathy for the Bill.

Just a few days ago, Chukwuma John sent me a video clip in which Hon. Rimamnde Shawulu Kwewum, a member of the House of Representatives who represented Ussa, Takum, Yangtu, and Donga Federal Constituency in the 8th and 9th National Assembly, granted an interview to ARISE TV. In one fell swoop during the ARISE TV interview, Hon. Kwewum denied that the Bill was aimed at regulating the practice of Christianity in Nigeria, but in another swoop, he contradicted himself by admitting that the raison d’être of the Bill is to enact a law that would have the effect of establishing a “National Council for Christian Education in Nigeria” to be funded by the Federal Government, whose primary objective shall be to “develop, regulate, and approve Christian Education and its syllabuses at all levels of education and to train, retrain, and recertify Christian Religious Instructors at all Christian schools and accredit programs of Christian Theological Institutions of Learning.” If, pursuant to section 7 of the Bill, the Council can “regulate” Christian Education and syllabi of Christian schools at all levels, as well as “train,” “retrain,” and “recertify” Christian Religious Instructors and “accredit” programs of Christian Theological Institutions of Learning, why is Hon. Kwewum denying that the Bill is aimed at regulating Christianity in Nigeria? Christian Education is conterminous with the practice of Christianity. In fact, Christian Education is a veritable vehicle for the transmission of Christian tenets, ideals, beliefs, and practices. Therefore, if you regulate Christian Education, you are also regulating the practice of Christianity. Or, put differently, if you corrupt Christian syllabi in schools or what is taught in Christian schools, you have succeeded in corrupting the practice of Christianity. So, Hon. Kwewum is very wrong. The Bill is geared towards controlling or regulating the practice of Christianity in Nigeria to suit the sinister political and religious ideologies of the State.

Hon. Kwewum also claims in his interview that the sponsors of the Bill have widely consulted the different Christian denominations and Christian churches before being used to sponsor the Bill. With due respect, this is not correct. The various Christian denominations and churches were not consulted as claimed. In front of me, as I scribble this, is a press release dated 27th June 2023 from the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) unequivocally disassociating itself from the Bill and stating that the Bill is unconstitutional and a clear violation of the secularity of the Nigerian State, as well as an erosion of the fundamental human rights of the citizens. I have inquired from Christian leaders of other Christian denominations, and they clearly stated to me that they were not consulted prior to the crafting of the Bill. So, who did Hon. Kwewum and the CAN cliques consult? The truth of the matter, as I highlighted in my earlier piece on this subject matter, is that CAN has been polarized along different partisan political lines. Or, put differently, CAN has been hijacked by a narrow political ideology, and that is why the body has lost its integrity and credibility to represent Nigerian Christians, let alone speak on their behalf. This is why the Catholic Church pulled out of CAN in 2012 because according to the Church, “CAN is being dragged into partisan politics, thereby compromising its ability to play its true role as the conscience of the nation and the voice of the voiceless.” Now, the same Catholic Church has disassociated itself from the Bill regulating Christianity in Nigeria, even though the Bill has the imprimatur of some cliques in the CAN. It is obvious that these cliques cannot unilaterally impose their decisions on Nigerian Christians and citizens. More importantly, they have no right to violate the fundamental human rights to privacy (section 37) and the right to freedom of thought, religion, and conscience (section 38) as enshrined in our 1999 Constitution.

Hon. Kwewum also stated in his interview that the Bill arose out of the necessity to license or recertify and recognize Christian primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions and to train and recertify Christian Religious Instructors in order to standardize Christian Education and to avoid religious fakery, champerty, impersonation, and identity crisis. I beg your pardon. Hon. Kwewum and the CAN cliques should be reminded that the various Christian schools, seminaries, and tertiary institutions are already recognized by law. They operate within the confines of the various laws setting them up. They are approved and regulated by the Federal Ministry of Education, which also established uniform standards guiding all of them. Their syllabi have been approved by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), which, in fact, is the statutory body responsible for the formulation, development, reviewing, regulating, and enriching curricula or syllabi for schools at all levels in Nigeria. To meet global needs and international best practices, the National Universities Commission (NUC) has been approving and regulating the curriculum for all universities in the country, including private and Christian universities. Therefore, it is illegal to set up a Council in Abuja to usurp the functions of the Federal Ministry of Education, NERDC, and NUC. The Philosophy and Theological curricula used in Christian seminaries such as the Bigard Memorial Seminary in Enugu, SS. Peter & Paul in Bodija, Ibadan, Baptist Theological Seminary in Kaduna, Bethel Institute of Theology and Biblical Research, Harvesters International Theological Seminary, International Institute of Divinity and Theological Seminary, Bible Life University of Theology have long received recognition and certification from their respective affiliate universities and the NUC. For example, since its inception in 1924, the Bigard Seminary, Enugu has been offering internationally-accredited   philosophy and Theology.  For 40 years, the Saints Peter and Paul s Seminary, Bodija, Ibadan remained the only academic institution where philosophy was studied in Nigeria. So, it is needless to set up a Council to recognize the Christian Theological institutions which had been recognized or re-certified even before Hon. Kwewum and his co-Bill sponsors were born.

If Hon. Kwewum and his co-Bill sponsors are really keen on protecting the interests of Nigerian Christian, they should have sponsored a Bill seeking to end the killing of Christians and general persecution of Christians and Christianity in Nigeria especially in Southern Kaduna. It beats the imagination that rather sponsor a Bill to preserve the integrity of Christian religion in Nigeria and thus pave way for the prevention of the killing and persecution of Christians in Nigeria Hon. Kwewum and his cohorts are sponsoring a Bill to strangulate Christianity in Nigeria. Over 11,500 Christians have reportedly been murdered in Nigeria since June 2015.  So far, about four to five million Christians are said to have been displaced IN Nigeria since 2015. On June 2, 2016, a 70-year-old citizen of Imo State called lady Mrs. Bridget Agbahime was murdered in cold blood in Kano for allegedly blaspheming the Koran. A Kano Magistrate had discharged all the five suspects who allegedly killed Mrs. Agbahime. Case closed. No protests from Bill sponsors such as Hon. Kwewum. Barely 10 days after Mrs. Agbahime was hacked to death, a 41-year-old Christian man called Francis Emmanuel was almost stabbed to death in Kaduna for allegedly eating meat during Ramadan. Then on the 9th of July 2016, a mother of seven, Mrs. Eunice Elisha, who was also the wife of a Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) pastor was murdered in cold blood in Abuja by Muslim fanatics while she was preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Cases closed. Till date, no justice for Mrs. Agbahime and Elisha. No Bill from CAN let alone Hon. Kwewum to give them justice. On January 8 2020, Rev. Timothy Lawan Andimi the then Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), for the Michika area was shamefully beheaded. No Bill from CAN and Hon. Kwewum to do justice for Rev. Timothy.

 On May 12, 2022, Deborah Samuel Yakubu, a second-year Christian college student at Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto (SSCOE), was stoned to death and set on fire in a barbaric manner by some fanatical Muslim students of the same SSCOE for allegedly insulting Prophet Mohammed (Peace be on him). Till date no justice for Deborah.  In 2022 alone, 39 Catholic Priests (Sahara Reporters reports that 145 Catholics priests were killed in 2022) were murdered and 30 abducted. Only God knows the number of Catholic Priests who would be murdered in 2023. Already three Catholic Priests have been murdered in 2023. On June 5, 2022 St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State was attacked leaving about 50 worshippers dead and many more injured. Till date, the whereabout of the daughter of Zion and conscience of the nation, Leah Sharibu, (the Christian girl who has been kept in the dungeon for refusing to convert to Christianity) remains unknown. Neither CAN nor the people sponsoring this Bill care about Leah Sharibu.

I could go on reeling out the names and number of Christians who had been illegally killed in Nigeria since 2015. Therefore the Bill to regulate Christianity is highly misplaced. It is otiose. It is unjustifiable. It is unconstitutional. It is capable of seething the Nigerian Christians in anger. The Bill fans the ember religious bigotry and religious disunity in Nigeria. More importantly, the Bill is a gross violation of religious freedom, the right to freedom of religious worship, and the secularity (in contrast to secularism) of the Nigerian State as enshrined in our 1999 Constitution. The Bill is also incompatible with cherished human values enshrined in many African and international human rights instruments. The Bill infringes on the citizens’ right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, as well as unjustified intrusion of the State into the practice of the Christian religion as the Supreme Court held in the case of Medical and Dental Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal v Dr. John Emewulu Nicholas Okonkwo (2002). In that case, the Supreme Court held that the import of the fundamental human rights to privacy (section 37) and the right to freedom of thought, religion, and conscience (section 38) as enshrined in our 1999 Constitution is that the State is forbidden from setting standards or modalities for the practice of the Christian religion, questioning or setting standards on the courses of the citizens’ religious life, or interfering with the ways in which the citizens have fashioned out to practice their religion.

I would like Hon. Kwewum, his co-Bill sponsors and backers to read the case of Archbishop Anthony Olubunmi Okogie [Trustee of Roman-Catholic School v. Attorney-General of Lagos State. In this case, the Lagos State government enacted an Education law under which it closed privately owned and religious schools, including schools owned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos. Of course, the indefigatible Archbishop Okogie (as he then was) took the Lagos State government to court and successfully obtained a declaration that the action of the Lagos State government offended the constitutional right of the Lagos Catholic Archdiocese to own schools and operate them under the tenets and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church

It is unfortunate that many members of the National Assembly and our representatives in government derive joy from chasing shadows, while the real business of governance, which is ameliorating the increasing genteel poverty in Nigeria, remains unattended to. If the sponsors of the Bill are looking for a Bill to support, they should sponsor a Bill that reduces the scandalous salaries and emoluments of the members of the National Assembly, or a Bill that reduces the cost of governance in Nigeria. As I highlighted in my earlier piece on this controversial Bill, the sponsors of the Bill are exhibiting their ignorance of the doctrine of the separation of the state and church, also known as the separation of religion and government in a presidential democracy. Otherwise, they would have known that the functions and responsibilities of the Federal government and the church should be kept separate, and that the government must not interfere in regulating Christian schools, especially by prescribing syllabuses and modes of Christian Education in Nigeria.

All in all, I reiterate the concurring positions of the Christian churches, such as the Catholic Church, Nigerian jurists, lawyers, and the public, that there is no merit in the existing in Bill to regulate Christianity in Nigeria. Christian Education in Nigeria does not require regulation; it requires protection. The Bill is capable of igniting a religious war in the country. Furthermore, the Bill cannot even be amended. You cannot amend a snake because it will still bite you. For these reasons, and others that have been advanced above, this murky and sneaky Bill stands rejected and is hereby rejected for lack of merit.