WARRI – Members of The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) , Effurun Branch, have faulted the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020 and vowed to exhaust all legal means to see that the law, which the lawyers described as not only as too draconian but a rape of democratic principles is reversed.
The Act, which was recently assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari, stipulates that the Registrar-General (RG) of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) can remove or install leaders or heads of churches and Non-Governmental Organisations, convert or take over their bank accounts without recourse to the courts.
Expressing the disenchantment of the legal body, the newly sworn-in chairman of Effurun branch of NBA, Delta State, Jonathan Ekperusi Esq., disclosed that most Nigerians believed that the law was smuggled in through the back door in that there was no public hearing preceding its passage.
He blamed the rubber-stamp posture of the leadership of the National Assembly for the passage of the act, saying the NBA was “not surprised because the Senate President said at the earliest time of this legislative tenure that they were ready to do anything that the executive wanted.”
Ekperusi, who was speaking while on a courtesy visit to the secretariat of the Warri Correspondents Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) with other newly elected executive members , gave details of the aspect of the law now heating the polity.
The very controversial provisions related to Part C which deals with the incorporated trustees. Now, the powers given to the Registrar-General (RG) of the CAC seem to be so much that organisations that fall there; religious organisations not just churches alone even non-Christian bodies like African traditional groups, Islamic groups, non-governmental organisations and civil society groups that are registered as incorporated trustees, their leaders and indeed their existence, is now at the mercy of the Registrar-General of CAC.
The new law gives the RG of CAC powers to change the leadership of non-governmental organisations or incorporated trustees generally.
The legal practitioner further reiterated that the law “is too draconian. Even a law as far-reaching as the EFCC Establishment Act, says that the EFCC cannot take over anybody’s account without an order of the court or r be it by an exparte application. Exparte means they can go behind you without hearing from you, to get an order.
“But the CAC’s Corporate and Allied Matters Act 2020,:does not even need a court order. In order words, the CAC could now be both the accuser, the prosecutor and the Judge.
“And no democratic society, not Nigeria of the year 2020 should allow that kind of law to stand. Because it means that a religious group like the Redeemed Christian Church Of God which is about the largest Christian Organisation in Nigeria today, will wake up one day and realize that their funds have been taken over by the CAC.
“That their entire leadership, the board of trustees have been changed by the CAC. That cannot stand and I believe that the Nigerian Bar Association will do everything within its powers to challenge that law.”
The NBA Effurun branch chairman, who was accompanied by his secretaries, Kingsley Okes Idisi Esq., and Oghenetegha Ikpen Esq., revealed that the obnoxious law came into being during the introduction of the Ease of Doing Business Executive Order of the president.
“The law came under the guise of Ease of Doing Business and so they used the provision of Part A and B. Part A of the Companies and Allied Matters Act deals with registered companies.
“Part B deals with registered business names and Part C deals with incorporated trustees which cover churches, religious organizations, civil society groups, non-governmental organisations and even some schools that are registered as trustees.
“So the cover of Part A, the reforms in company and regulations that under the CAMA 2020, you can now have a company owned by just one person unlike the old law that says you must have a minimum of two directors and two shareholders, will now have one person owning companies as part of Ease of Doing Business. Not knowing that there is a time bomb in part C,” he noted.
According to him, “we will fight it. Once we approach the court, those sections will be brought down. There is a provision in the constitution that states that you cannot decide somebody’s rights without hearing from him.
“And those offensive provisions offend the fair hearing provision. If CAC Registrar-General can decide my fate without hearing from me, that is a violent breach of the fair-hearing provisions.
“So, that is our position. In no time, we will take all the steps, challenge all these provisions in court and we believe that the judiciary will be there for the common man,” he stressed.
Barr. Ekperusi sued for the cooperation of Warri Correspondents’ Chapel of the NUJ with the branch of the NBA, Effurun, adding that such corporation was necessary for upholding the rule of law in the state and beyond.
On his part, Chairman of the WARRI NUJ, Mr. Okie’s Vikies, commended the NBA executive for the visit and pledged a good working relationship with the lawyers.
