Kayode Adeniji, the Senior Partner of Lawracles Legal Practitioners, in his article NGO, religious organisation regulation bill smuggled into CAMA 2020 | TheCable spoke about some sections of the newly enacted CAMA 2020. He stated that these provisions were inconsistent with the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), lacked originality, and was heading to create more harm than good.
The Senior Partner rightly condemned some of the new sections of CAMA 2020 which sought to give powers to the Registrar General of the Corporate Affairs Commission and the supervising ministers over religious bodies and Charity organisations.
The Federal High Court in Abuja in April 2023, Court nullified sections of CAMA 2020 (premiumtimesng.com) validated and corroborated Kayode Adeniji’s position thereby nullifying the sections that were criticised by the Senior Partner. In delivering the judgment, the judge reiterated that the above sections infringed on conscience and religion as enshrined under section 38 of the constitution. Consequently, the judge struck out the above sections of CAMA 2020.
The supremacy of the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria (as amended) is well laid out in section 1 subsection (I) which state: “Any law which is inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution, this Constitution shall prevail, and that other law shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void.”
The opinion shared by the Senior Partner of Lawracles Legal Practitioners in August 2020 on the above sections of CAMA 2020, has now become law.