Lawrence Nwimo, Awka
Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State has placed a fine of N500,000 on anyone found to be disturbing public peace through open gospel preaching.
In a viral video trending on social media, Governor Soludo describes open gospel preaching in parks and markets as noise pollution.
Soludo, who in the video, confronted a preacher in a market warned the preacher to desist from the act, stating that it contravenes the law.
According to him, one cannot exercise their fundamental rights by disturbing others with noise pollution.
“If you want to preach, go to your church and preach. You can’t come to the open market to disturb others doing businesses in the name of preaching.
“Go to your church and preach, and those who are interested will come there and listen to you.”
“You can’t come to a market place and start to disturb everybody. You can’t do that. It’s pollution.
“We have freedom of religion and we protect such rights, but you can’t come to an open market where everybody is trading and start to disturb. It’s noise. We can’t allow it.”
He warned that failure to comply would result in arrest and a possible fine of N500,000.
Soludo added that the government is not only cleansing the state of fake native doctors but also fake prophets.