SERAP drags Buhari to court over CAMA 2020

THE Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has sued President Buhari over the controversial Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020.

The organisation instituted the legal proceeding against the government at a Federal High Court in Abuja

In a statement issued on Sunday, SERAP said it is essential for the court to stop the President from using what it described as “draconian provisions” of the Act to target activists; arbitrarily merge private associations, religious associations, charities, NGOs/professional bodies under Part F and remove their trustees.

“These unlawful provisions will allow the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to take over the funds of any such association and give such funds to another association on the pretext that the account is dormant,” the group said.

The defendants in the suit filed on Friday with number FHC/ABJ/CS/172/2021 are the Attorney General and the Corporate Affairs Commission.

SERAP said it is seeking “an order stopping President Buhari, Mr Malami and the CAC from implementing the provisions of CAMA 2020 which allow @NigeriaGov to arbitrarily cancel the certificate of registration of any association.

“These provisions may be used as a pretext for rights violations.”

The suit read in part, “The right to freely associate with others works both ways. The others you want to associate with must be prepared to associate with you. None can be imposed on the other. Anyone is free to associate with or dissociate from whosoever.

“The Nigerian Constitution of 1999 [as amended], International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights guarantee to everyone the right to freedom of association. The Constitution and the Charter also guarantee the right to property.”