The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), has kicked against a bill seeking to prohibit and prevent religious discrimination against adherents and practitioners of different faiths and beliefs.
IgbereTv gathered that CAN, which hosted the sponsor of the bill now before the House of Representatives, Hon. Saidu Musa Abdullahi, when he visited to solicit for support for the bill, made their position known and said the proposed legislation if eventually passed into law, would cause chaos, confusion, division and crisis in Nigeria.
Speaking at the parley, the President of CAN, Revd. Samson Ayokunle, said the bill if passed into law, would enforce discrimination rather than unite the country.
He stated that Nigeria currently has laws that can take care of discrimination, stressing that if anyone is discriminated against, the court is open.
“You don’t sit on my nose because you have a right to sit down. Beyond your good intent to solve a problem, we may be creating many other ones. There is no mutual respect,” he said.
He stated that the name of the sponsor of the bill would go into history as one who disregarded the rights of Christians to promote his own religion.
“Why do we have to wage war against ourselves? Why do we want to wake up a problem which is sleeping? Wearing of hijab has not made any student more intelligent. Piety is in the heart. In a multi-ethnic nation like ours, school uniform creates uniformity, classless. Once you pass that bill, be prepared for a state of confusion,” he concluded.
Earlier, Abdullahi had appealed to the association for support.
He said: “we came up with a proposal which tilts towards proffering solution to the problem that has become a clog in our wheel of progress for quite a while now. Alot of people will say that religious issues are too sensitive to be discussed, but I feel that if you have a problem and you don’t talk about it, you are not likely going to have a solution to it. It is in appreciation of this that we came up with the bill, which has gone through first and second reading in the House.”
He told the CAN leaders that lawmakers were not prepared for the public hearing, adding that he preferred to build consensus before going for a public hearing.
