Ade Adesomoju, AbujaA lawyer, Malcom Omirhobo, has filed a suit before the Federal High Court in Abuja, praying for an order to repeal the laws establishing the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission and the National Hajj Commission for being inconsistent with the constitutional status of Nigeria as a secular state. In the suit filed on January 15, 2020, the plaintiff prayed for an order disbanding both bodies which are saddled with the statutory responsibilities of supervising, coordinating, licensing and regulating Christian and Islamic pilgrimages from Nigerians to the holy lands. The Federal Government, the Attorney-General of the Federation, the National Assembly, the NCPC and NAHCON were sued as defendants in the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/37/2020. He said the Federal Government “is committing and wasting Nigerians’ commonwealth for religious purposes through the establishment, running and sustenance” of the bodies, with “trillions of naira” already wasted on “religious matters” by the government since Independence. He also sought “an order of court disbanding the 4th and 5th defendants (NCPC and NAHCON), as well as “a perpetual injunction of court restraining the 1st defendant (the Federal Government) from establishing, funding, sustaining, maintaining and running religious bodies in Nigeria”.

Source: Punch January 27, 2020 17:48 UTC