President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Bishop Francis Wale Oke, has declared that no law will stop Christians from preaching the gospel in commercial buses, insisting that the government should focus on tackling Nigeria’s worsening insecurity instead of targeting evangelists.
Speaking during a church service on Sunday, Oke challenged lawmakers pushing for the enforcement of a law prohibiting preaching in commercial vehicles, saying they would fail in their attempt to silence Christians.
“If you want to enforce that law, then build more prisons. Convert all the stadiums in Nigeria into prisons because we are coming. We will break that law. Our Master commanded us to go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature. We will preach in buses. We will preach everywhere,” the PFN President declared.
He criticised the National Assembly for what he described as misplaced priorities, arguing that lawmakers should concentrate on confronting the nation’s growing security challenges rather than restricting peaceful evangelism.
“You are not going after killers. You are not going after those beheading innocent people. You are not going after kidnappers, rapists and bandits carrying illegal weapons. Instead, you are pursuing those preaching a message of peace that changes lives,” Oke said.
According to him, Christians would continue to obey God’s command to preach, maintaining that no human law could override that responsibility.
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His comments come amid widespread reactions to the proposed enforcement of provisions under the Federal Road Safety Commission Act prohibiting preaching, hawking and trading inside commercial vehicles. The Senate has clarified that the provision has existed since 2007 and was not newly introduced in the ongoing amendment of the Act.
Also weighing in on the controversy, Presiding Bishop of Living Faith Church Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedepo, reiterated that evangelism remains at the heart of the Christian faith, urging believers not to relent in winning souls despite perceived opposition.
Similarly, the founder of Dunamis International Gospel Centre, Dr. Paul Enenche, maintained that preaching the gospel is a divine mandate and warned against policies capable of discouraging peaceful evangelism.
The reactions by the prominent Christian leaders have intensified calls on government to give greater priority to combating insecurity, kidnapping, banditry and other violent crimes threatening lives across the country instead of restricting religious preaching in public spaces.
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