The Senator representing Kaduna Central on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Shehu Sani, on Sunday faulted the religious bill proposed by the Kaduna State government, saying it is “absolutely wrong”.
The controversial bill, which was introduced by the state governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, is aimed at regulating public preaching in the state and ensuring that religious sects are not allowed to thrive.
Senator Sani, who has been in a long-drawn political battle with Governor El-Rufai, said the government had no right to regulate or issue licenses to religious preachers in the state.
He made this known shortly after receiving an award of excellence by the youth wing of Ansarul-Deen Society of Nigeria during their 40 years anniversary and fundraising programme.
Sani, a civil rights crusader before joining active politics, said it was painful for him to receive a merit award from the group when majority of Nigerians have not begun to experience good governance.
“It’s painful to receive this merit award when majority of Nigerians are still expecting good governance. Nigerians are facing lots of challenges and we the elected leaders cannot continue to give them excuses.
“They did not elect us to lament, they didn’t elect us to give them excuses. We were elected to give them good governance. I’m not the kind of person that will see black and say it’s white. Whether we are in same party or not I will not see wrong and say it’s right.
“I did that during the military era and I will continue to tell the truth even now. Nigerians spent hours under the sun to vote for us and so we must not fail them. We must do what the people want and not what we want as leaders because they voted for us.
“This is why we say the proposed religious bill in Kaduna State is absolutely wrong and we will not accept anybody to license any preacher because people have the right to practice their religion as enshrined in the constitution.
“Nobody can violate the constitution because freedom of religion is enshrined in the constitution. We are also calling on the state governor not to over tax the people because they have suffered a lot under the 16 years of PDP”, he said.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign and Domestic Debt, also urged Nigerians to pray for President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to succeed, saying the president has succeeded in tackling the insurgents in North East.
“President Muhammadu Buhari is really working for Nigeria and for the masses of this country. Therefore, we must continue to pray for him to succeed”, he said.
Senator Sani later announced the donation of N2 million for the completion for the Ansarul-Deen Youth Centre.
Other people who received the merit award for their contributions to humanity include former Director General Media and Publicity to former Kaduna State Governor, Ahmed Maiyaki; Kaduna NASFAT branch Chairman, Abdulwaheed Adepoju; and NASFAT Kaduna Branch Chief Missionary Officer, Marooph Raji.
