SERAP, PFN urge Buhari to withdraw assent to CAMA

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on the President Muhammadu Buhari to withdraw his assent to the controversial Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020.
The group urged Buhari to send the law back to the National Assembly “to address its fundamental flaws, including by deleting the repressive provisions of the Act, particularly sections 839, 842, 843, 844 and 850 contained in Part F of the Act, and any other similar provisions.”
It also urged Buhari to “instruct the Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission, Alhaji Garba Abubakar, and Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), not to implement or enforce the CAMA 2020 until the legislation is repealed by the National Assembly and brought in line with the Constitution of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), and Nigeria’s international human rights obligations.”
SERAP made the call on Sunday in an open letter to Buhari by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oludare.
It was titled, ‘SERAP asks Buhari to revoke assent to CAMA, send it back to NASS or face legal action’.
The group said, “With these provisions, the government now has overly broad and discretionary powers to arbitrarily withdraw, cancel or revoke the certificate of any association, suspend and remove trustees, take control of finances of any association, and to merge two associations without their consent and approval of their members.
“Rather than taking concrete measures to improve the legal environment and civic space that would ensure respect for human rights and media freedom, your government has consistently pursued initiatives to restrict the enjoyment of citizens’ human rights. These rights are protected from impairment by government action.”
Also calling for the repealing of the controversial CAMA is the South-South Zone of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, which has urged Buhari and the National Assembly to revoke the disputed clauses in the CAMA.
The National Vice Chairman of the PFN, Bishop Simeon Okah, stated that the controversial sections of the CAMA, which he said were aimed at muscling the church, should immediately be expunged in the interest of national peace and stability.
Okah, who is also the presiding Bishop of the Flock of Christ Mission in Enerhen, spoke on Sunday in Warri, Delta State, and insisted that the Christian community in Nigeria would not sit and allow anyone to regulate the activities of the church from the back door.