PFN to Tinubu: Reject bill seeking to ban preaching in commercial vehicles

• Says proposed law targets Christians, violates Constitution

By Oluseye Ojo

The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has urged President Bola Tinubu to withhold assent to the controversial Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Amendment Bill.

The umbrella body over all pentecostal churches in Nigeria with over 65 million membership, said the proposed legislation banning preaching in commercial vehicles is discriminatory, unconstitutional and capable of provoking religious tension.

The position was adopted at the third quarter National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the fellowship yesterday in Lagos, presided over by its National President, Bishop Wale Oke.

Briefing journalists after the meeting, National Secretary of PFN, Bishop David Bakare, said the Fellowship supports efforts to improve road safety but rejected any law that appears to single out Christians or infringe on the constitutional rights to freedom of religion and expression.

“We appreciate the work of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in ensuring safety on our roads. But this is not the urgent need of Nigerians at this time,” he said.

He contended that insecurity, economic hardship and other pressing national challenges deserved greater legislative attention.

According to him, the proposed law unfairly targets Christians because preaching in commercial vehicles is largely associated with Christian evangelism.

“We believe this law is deliberately targeted at Christians. We do not understand how preaching in commercial vehicles has suddenly become a traffic offence,” he said.

Bakare also questioned why the proposed legislation focused on preaching while overlooking other activities that obstruct traffic.

“We have cases of people who block roads on a prayer day; that has not been attended to. I would have thought that that is one of the areas that can be considered a traffic offence or a distraction,” he said.

He urged Tinubu not to sign the bill but to return it for wider consultations with religious leaders and other stakeholders.

“If anything, let it be sent back for public debate so that whatever concerns exist can be addressed without creating unnecessary religious tension,” he said.

He warned that Christians would view the legislation as an infringement on their constitutional rights if eventually signed into law, stressing that neither he nor other church leaders were aware of any instance where preaching inside a commercial vehicle had caused an accident or distracted a driver.

Responding to questions, PFN National Treasurer, Rev Sam Aboyeji, described the proposed sanctions against hawking in commercial buses as insensitive to prevailing economic realities.

“If people had better opportunities, they would not be hawking inside buses. That is an index of poverty. The government should make laws that improve people’s lives instead of making life harder for them.

“The other side to it is that anything that will divide us, I don’t think it’s what the National Assembly should be entertaining now. And I’m sure the people who proposed that bill knew very well. Why didn’t they propose a bill to ban praying on the street on Fridays? If they had done that, it would have been a balance.

“But going after only those they know preach inside buses is wrong. If they want to balance it, they would have said, ‘Okay, anybody that prays on the road, that blocks the road to pray, will also pay a fine of N50,000 or N100,000.” Then it would have been balanced. But this one looks as if it’s after a particular section of the country, and we all know it’s Christians,” he said.

Aboyeji, General Overseer of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria, also urged the Federal Government to sustain its renewed offensive against bandits following recent security breakthroughs, including the rescue of abducted schoolchildren in Oyo State.

On 2027 general election, he said the PFN had not changed its opposition to a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket.

“The fact that it succeeded in 2023 does not mean the church has changed its position. The church has never changed its position,” he said.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Sylvanus Ukafia, after the meeting, the PFN reaffirmed its commitment to justice, constitutional democracy, religious freedom and national unity.

The fellowship reiterated its opposition to any law that unduly restricts Christian preaching, saying such legislation is inconsistent with constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion, conscience, expression and peaceful assembly.

It also restated its opposition to a Muslim-Muslim ticket for elective public office, arguing that Nigeria’s religious and ethnic diversity should be reflected in its leadership to promote inclusion, national unity and mutual trust.

The PFN called on the governments at all levels to uphold the Constitution, protect the rights of every Nigerian regardless of faith and ensure that no legislation discriminates against any religious community, while urging Christians to remain peaceful, prayerful and law-abiding.