Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, says it is currently engaging Kaduna State House of Assembly on the proposed preaching bill.
Addressing a news conference in Kaduna yesterday, PFN state chairman and secretary, Rev. Femi Ehinmidu and Rev. Tony Inwulale, respectively, said though Governor Nasir el-Rufai has sent the executive bill on religious activities in the state to legislators, Pentecostal churches would not protest on the streets or take legal action against the state government.
PFN, while saying it has made its position known to the legislators, noted that there are existing laws in the state that have already taken care of the proposed bill.
PFN added that government should strengthen such laws against violators, stressing that government should properly engage stakeholders on the bill.
PFN explained that the bill, which suggests that the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, should regulate churches, said the body was only a Christians’ block.
It stated: “We are engaging the Kaduna State House of Assembly on the executive bill on religious activities in Kaduna State 2016. We are engaging; we are not protesting on the streets or taking any legal action. There are many laws that legislate on the rights of other people. Let those laws take their full course.”
It would be recalled that CAN, Kaduna State chapter, after a meeting with the state deputy governor, Arch. Barnabas Yusuf Bala, last week over the preaching bill, its chairman, Bishop George Dodo, who led the 12-person CAN delegation, said el-Rufai’s proposed bill should follow lay down constitutional procedures on religious practice.
CAN added that it does not think el-Rufai’s religious bill before legislators would ban Christianity in the state.
