GOVERNOR RAUF AREGBESOLA OF OSUN STATE
SAN FRANCISCO, October 08, (THEWILL) – Crisis is brewing in Osun State over the decision of the State Government to merge secondary schools in the state as the Christian community has accused Governor Rauf Aregbesola of using the merger as a ploy to Islamise the state.
The merger, which will see some Muslim students join their Christian counterparts in Christian missionary schools in the state, has already been rejected by the Christians who staged series of protests to condemn the act.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in a statement by its the National General-Secretary, Reverend Musa Asake, has also alleged that the merger plan by Aregbesola is part of a grand plan to systematically silent Christians in the state, warning that if the decision by the state government is not reversed, CAN will do all within its powers to resist such moves.
Asake alleged that the Islamisation plans in the state is not peculiar to the education sector alone as he questioned a recent loan purportedly secured by the state government from an Islamic Bank.
“We’ve been following the events in Osun State. To get to this point where they’re trying to bring some Muslims to mix them with Christian students is a ploy. There is no pretence about it and we are going to resist it. I totally disagree that the Islamisation of Osun State is not peculiar to the education sector alone. They have an agenda.
“If you follow the event in that state and the way the governor is going about doing his own things, he has an agenda. Why is he particular about Christian schools? If he really wants to promote education in that state, why can’t he build other schools? Why is he particular about Christian schools? We Christians can no longer fold our hands and allow them do what they want,” he stated.
Asake also accused current and previous governments in the state of intentionally ignoring the plight of Christians, saying Christians have been reduced to second class citizens in their own country.
“Forty years ago, under the supervision of a Christian minority Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, someone, somewhere brought the idea that mission schools should be taken over. Now watch! 40 years later, under the supervision of another Christian minority president, Goodluck Jonathan, Almajiri schools have been introduced.
“The school is strictly for Muslim children. These people are never concerned about the Christians. After they took over missionary schools, they’ve not introduced Almajiri schools. They’ve placed Christians as second and third class citizens.
“This time around, we will not allow it happen in Osun State. It’s a ploy to tarnish the entire educational system by bringing the mix up. There is an agenda behind it. At this time around, we cannot just sit down and watch. We are following the events. CAN chapter in Osun State is working hard and we are following. At the appointed time, the National CAN will react seriously.
“The Christians in the state have closed down the schools and my word to the state chapter of CAN is that they must not relent. They must not allow it happen. The governor was elected by both Christians and Muslims. For him to pay attention to the only the welfare of Muslims, it’s absolutely unfair.
“We won’t allow that happen. I challenge all the Christians in the state to rise up and say no. That educational policy can be implemented in any other place, but not in mission schools. The time has come for all the mission schools taken from churches to be returned to them. CAN will no longer fold its hands and allow this happen,” he stated.
On the recent loan purportedly secured by the Osun State Government, Asake said: “The last time, we were also told that the same governor took a loan from an Islamic bank. What does he want to do with that loan? Among all the governors we’ve in Nigeria, how many of them have taken loans from Islamic banks? What is his own plan. Christians are not fighting him.”
The CAN Secretary also asked the Federal Government to call Fulani herdsmen who have been allegedly involved in series of deadly attacks on natives across the country to order.
“I’m at the centre of the whole thing. I’m a Northerner. I’ve been suppressed. No one thinks about me as a Northerner because I’m a Christian. If you look at what is going on, they are only using Fulani herdsmen to destabilise these areas. They want to take over everything. They want to make everything Islam. It will not happen.
“Innocent souls are dying. The way the killings are going, I don’t see any energy from our leaders to solve this problem. No one is saying anything about those that have been killed? Our Northern governors are going about saying that presidency must return to the North. Is that the issue right now? I expect these Northern governors to be having sleepless nights and trying to put an end to this. I don’t hear that.
“Northerners have ruled this country and put us in this mess we are in today. Whenever these same people talk about the North, they’re not talking about Christians. Christians must open their eyes. As a Northern Christian, I’m not regarded as anything. When they talk about power coming to the North, Christians are not in the picture,” Asake said.
