PFN Rejects Bill Seeking to Ban Bus Preaching, Hawking, Says it Threatens Religious Freedom

• Urges Tinubu to withhold assent, return legislation for wider consultation

Sunday Ehigiator

Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has rejected the proposed Federal Road Safety Corps (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which seeks to prohibit preaching and hawking in commercial buses, describing the legislation as an infringement on citizens’ constitutional rights to freedom of expression and religion.

The Christian body also stated that the proposed ban unfairly targeted Christians, who were widely known to evangelise in public buses.

PFN urged President Bola Tinubu to decline assent to the bill and return it for broader public consultation.

Speaking at a press conference after the PFN National Executive Meeting in Lagos, the Fellowship’s National Secretary, Bishop David Bakare, said although the organisation supported efforts by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to improve road safety, the amendment bill appeared to single out Christians.

Bakare said, “We do appreciate the work of the Federal Road Safety Corps in ensuring that our roads are safe and secure and the need to strengthen road safety procedures to ensure that travel on our roads are safe, both for the public and for all road users.”

He questioned the rationale behind criminalising preaching in commercial vehicles, insisting that the legislation gives the impression of being directed at Christians.

he stated, “We are of the opinion that the bill gives us an impression that it is targeted against Christians because, come to think of it, who does preaching in vehicles, in buses? They’re Christians.”

Bakare warned that any law perceived to suppress a particular religious group could deepen divisions and fuel unnecessary tension at a time the country is preparing for the 2027 general elections.

He stated, “We actually don’t understand why legislators who never enter commercial vehicles understand and believe that people who preach in commercial vehicles are distracting drivers.

“We cannot understand how this has become a traffic offence in any form.”

Bakare added, “The Pentecostals, indeed, the Christians in Nigeria consider that the bill is against them church and is deliberately organised to pitch the church against the state. We are asking that the President, in his wisdom, should please set aside that bill and not accept it and, if anything, send it back for wider consultation.”

PFN Treasurer and General Overseer of Foursquare Gospel Church, Rev. Sam Aboyeji, criticised the proposed ban on hawking in commercial buses, saying it reflects a lack of understanding of the economic hardship confronting many Nigerians.

According to him, bus hawking is not a matter of choice but a symptom of widespread poverty and unemployment.

Aboyeji said, “If anybody has a choice, they would rather have a shop where they can sit down comfortably.

“So going into a bus is just a reflection of the level of poverty that our nation has been brought into.”

He stated that very few countries experienced the level of bus hawking seen in Nigeria, arguing that the practice is driven by economic necessity rather than preference.

He added, “It’s an index of poverty that people will leave the comfort of a shop and stand inside a bus to hawk. Is it a comfortable thing to do?

“They should have rather found a way to make laws that will make life more comfortable for the people, instead of tormenting the people who are already oppressed.”

PFN maintained that while road safety remained important, legislative measures should not infringe on constitutional freedoms or further burden economically vulnerable Nigerians.

It urged lawmakers to revisit the proposed amendment through extensive stakeholder engagement.