Bus Preaching Bill: CAN’s Rejection Is Admission Of Guilt – MURIC

A faith-based civil liberties advocacy group, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has identified the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) South West zone as the sponsor of those who preach inside commercial buses.

MURIC based its conclusion on a statement issued yesterday by CAN in which it expressed opposition to the FRSC sponsored anti-bus-preaching bill.

In a statement released to the media on Saturday, the executive director of the Islamic human rights organization said CAN’s rejection of the bill is an admission of guilt.

 The South-West chairman of CAN, Bishop Barnabas Akinsanya had issued a statement yesterday, Friday 24th July, 2026 in which he rejected the bill banning preaching inside commercial buses.

“This is very disappointing. It is sad to see a parent body toeing the same path of pervasion taken by its offshoots.

“By taking this position and by failing to summon enough courage to guide and correct its erring members, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has abdicated its rightful status in loco parentis.

“We are not in any way surprised. In fact we had our doubts when two Christian groups, the Christian Council of Nigeria and the Organisation of African Instituted Churches, spoke out during the week.

“We had a strong feeling that it was CAN afterall. Now the wind has blown, we have seen the ruff of the hen. It has always been CAN.

“In our statement issued on 20th July, 2026 under the captioned ‘Opposition To Bus-Preaching Bill Exposes Selfish Agenda of Christian Leaders’ we fingered Christian leaders as those behind bus preaching but we stopped short of mentioning CAN by name. Yet we knew that this must be one of CAN’s shenanigans.

“We know the real culprit now that CAN has come out openly in its real nomenclature. CAN is the sponsor, the employer and the enabler of bus preachers.

“But should brazen recalcitrance overwhelm the rule of law? We may also want to ask ‘Is CAN civilized to have openly embraced bus preaching?’

“CAN hides under the pretext that ‘the provision could restrict citizens’ constitutional rights’. CAN is talking about the rights of a single preacher to disturb a large majority of commuters who are inside the bus.

“Some using the opportunity to relax, some students going through lecture notes, some businessmen calculating their next moves, etc.

“Is the single preacher the only one that has constitutional rights? What of the 17 or more others in the bus whose rights are being encroached upon by the single preacher? Can the right of the single preacher obliterate those of other passengers?

“CAN is standing constitutional right on its head. By the way, must the bus preacher’s command for all to ‘Close your eyes as we pray in Jesus Name’ include the driver too?

“The normal scenario inside a commercial bus is that of about 14 or 18 passengers. The bus preacher is only one person. How can one person’s rights rank over and above the rights of all the passengers, including the driver who must be allowed to concentrate.

“We put it to CAN that the correct position of constitutional right is that one man’s rights stop where the rights of others begin. It is a well known law principle that personal freedom has limits. Just like the common saying, You have the right to swing your fist but ‘Your liberty to swing your fist ends just where my nose begins.

“It simply means you are free to do as you wish, but you cannot hurt or bother other people. Yet that is exactly what CAN wants its bus preacher to do to Nigerians.

“The preacher is free to preach but in the specially allotted space, in the church or in assemblies of Christians only. That is the ideal position. But this religious body wants its preachers to be above the law, reckless, lawless, uncontrolable, ungovernable! It had better not be.

“CAN is inviting chaos. We warn that if this overzealous group has its way, Muslims in the country who have been silently tolerating their extreme ways will have no other option than to confront bus preachers who make life unbearable for them inside commercial buses on a daily basis. Enough is enough.

“If Christians disallow lawmakers from enacting laws capable of making Nigeria a land of peace for all, law-abiding civilized citizens who want the best for this country will rise to the occasion and do the needful. We will defend our right to decent living, our right to have peace of mind.

“The ideal situation should be that Christians are free to preach inside Christian evangelical vehicles, not one conveying people of different faiths. It will be the same with Muslims and traditionalists.

“But we all know those two groups do not preach inside commercial buses. Christians enjoy lording their religion over others. We say no to imposition of one faith over the other,” MURIC said.

The group urged CAN leaders to pay special attention to Titus 2:1-8, ‘But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, …’ That is where their leadership role will manifest properly.”

It also urged Senate to forge ahead with the bill banning bus preaching and we call upon President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to reject CAN’s attempt to intimidate the presidency, saying “Nigerians are watching closely. Nigerians are asking: Which way Nigeria? Is it decency or anarchy?