Kaduna State Senator, Shehu Sani has criticized a preaching regulation bill sponsored by Governor Nasir El-Rufai.
Sani further described the bill as a draconian decree, which had no place in a democratic society, according to Daily Post.
Sani, who represents the Kaduna Central Senatorial District, made the comments on Sunday, April 10, 2016, after receiving an award of excellence from the youth wing of the Ansarudeen Association of Nigeria.
“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,” he said.
“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 the 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 licence 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 added.
Sani had earlier also criticized El-Rufai for implementing anti-people policies.
The preaching regulation bill seeks to implement a system whereby only licensed preachers are allowed to preach with defaulters being liable to a fine of N200,000 or imprisonment for two years or both.
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