Following the denial of association registration, herbalists sue CAC in court.

Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports

The Traditional Religious Practitioners’ Association (TRPA) in Nigeria has filed a lawsuit against the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) for refusing to register the traditional worshippers as a religious organization, much like the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA).

In its online application for registration to the CAC in June 2022, Traditional Religious Practitioners Association, TRPA, chaired by Dibia Chukwuma Ezeoruonye and two other trustees, wanted to be registered as a corporate body for the advancement of their beliefs. However, in its response to the application, the CAC rejected the request for registration.

The Commission responded to the TRPA on July 11 2022 with the statement, “The CAC regrets to inform you that it was unable to approve any of the names(s) submitted for approval…name not registrable as their forms of worship and practices are not publicly acknowledged.”

Through their attorney, Obi K. Odo Esquire, the traditional religious worshippers argue in their application to the court (Suit No. FHC/EN/CS/140/2022), that the CAC discriminated against the plaintiffs due to their religious practice, in violation of Section 42 of the 1999 Federal Republic of Nigeria Constitution.

The plaintiffs contended in their petition that there is no other way to convince the defendants to proceed with incorporating us as the Board of Trustees of the Association other than by the intervention of this court. The defendants “choosed to deny us solely because we are traditional worshippers, even though other religious groups have been incorporated by the defendants,” they argued.

The case names the Attorney General of Nigeria, the Minister of Justice, and the Federal Government of Nigeria as co-defendants.

The Plaintiffs are asking for a declaration that the CAC’s refusal to approve Traditional Religious Practitioners’Association as a name for the purposes of incorporating them as registered Trustees of TRPA is an infringement on their right to freedom of religion or worship and discriminatory in violation of the 1999 constitution as amended. They are also asking for a declaration that the refusal made under part C of the Companies and Allied Matters Act was illegal and ultra vires.

They therefore begged the court to issue an order telling the CAC to permit the registration and to determine if the organization is registrable and whether the CAC erred in rejecting the name even though it does not break the law.

Dibia Chukwuma Ezeoruonye, the chairman of the TRPA Board of Trustees, asserted in his affidavit in support of the originating summons that the CAC’s denial of the proposed name’s approval violated the TRPA’s right to freedom of religion, which is guaranteed by section 38 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Government of Nigeria, a second defendant in the case.

After the lawsuit is filed at the Federal High Court in Enugu on July 21, 2022, the hearing will begin once the judges return from their yearly vacation.