The Niger State government has prohibited all forms of religious preaching in the state and requires anyone who wishes to preach to obtain a license.
Umar Farooq, Director General of the Niger State Religious Affairs, confirmed the restriction in a phone interview on Thursday, saying that any preacher who wants to preach must obtain a license.
He stated that preachers had until today and the following two months to receive their licenses.
“It is true, the State Government has banned preaching. Any preacher who wants to preach must secure a license between now and the next two months.
“All they need to do is to visit our office and get and fill out the form. After which, they will have to face a panel that will screen them before they can start preaching,” Farooq said.
Bashir Yankuzo, Chief Imam of the Federal University of Technology in Minna, reacted to the restriction by saying the government cannot halt preaching.
“My opinion is that preaching is a command. The government is not paying anyone for doing the job; people are preaching in order to earn the pleasure of God. So, the government cannot dictate who to preach to and who not to preach to.
“But at the same time, if there are people who are going out of their way to cause security threats, using abusive words, and so on, then the government can have control over that in order to maintain peace and security.”
Raphael Opawoye, secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria’s Niger state branch, stated that the Christian group is unaware of the restriction.
“The Christian Association of Nigeria is not aware of the ban. We shall come up with a statement when we are officially informed,” he said.
An Islamic scholar, Ustaz Hassan, also reacted to the ban, saying, “This law needs to go to the State House of Assembly for proper legislative action.
Uthman Siraja, a Minna-based journalist and Islamic scholar, criticized the restriction as an infringement on religious liberties.
“The ban on preaching is an infringement of freedom of worship and religion.
“The best thing for the government to do is to invite and penalize any preacher who incites the public in the cause of his preaching,” he said.
