Osogbo—The face-off between Christian and Muslim leaders
degenerated, yesterday, but the timely
intervention of Oluwo of Iwoland, Oba
Adewale Akanbi, saved what could
have snowballed into major religious
crisis as some Christian students of Baptist High School, Adeeke, Iwo for
the second day appeared in church
robes to attend classes for the day. Some students of Baptist High School, Adeeke, Iwo, Osun State, attending classes in different church robes, yesterday. Photos: Gbenga Olarinoye. In defiance to Governor Rauf
Aregbesola’s warning on Tuesday that
any student found disobeying school
rules and regulations risk expulsion,
some students who arrived the school
for the day’s lessons in church robes were turned back by security men
manning the gate who however
allowed female Muslim students who
wore hijab as a complement to their
uniforms into the school premises. However, some Christian leaders who
initially kept a safe distance watching
the unfolding event at this point
moved to the gate to ensure that their
children also gained access to the
school premises. The Christians eventually gained
access into the premises. Muslim
leaders who were around the school
premises also moved to the gate and a
face-off ensued between the two
groups. It was gathered that the paramount
ruler of the town, Oba Akanbi, stepped
in by personally visiting the school to
douse the tension by inviting both the
Christian and Muslim leaders to his
palace for a meeting. The battle after a while, turned
spiritual as Christians in the state,
yesterday, organised an
interdenominational prayer where
they offered prayers to God to
intervene on the issue of hijab and the court ruling. The prayer rally which was attended
by over 200 pastors and thousands of
Christian faithful across all
denominations in the 30 Local
Government Areas of the State
including Ife East Area Office was held at Dominion Hall of Osun Baptist
Conference, Gbodofon, Osogbo . The prayer called by the State CAN
Chairman, Reverend Dr. Elisha
Ogundiya and led by his Vice, Pastor
Moses Adedeji Ogundeji, was meant to
reject the court ruling on hijab and
other alleged islamisation plot by the state government. Dr Ogundiya told Vanguard that the
prayer was also meant to seek for
peace from God and to "nullify anti-
Kingdom laws and dealings with
satanic forces that are tormenting the
state for the past few weeks". Meanwhile, Baptist High School, Iwo
where students went to school,
yesterday, with various choir and
church apparels as well as hijab was
condoned-off by the police after it was
shut by the state government, as the Christian and Muslim leaders held
meetings with the Iwo monarch, Oba
Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi to find
solution to the impasse. CAN condemns hijab ruling in Osun
state Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN,
yesterday, expressed disappointment
over recent High Court judgment in
Osun State on the use of hijab in all
schools including missionary schools,
describing the development as unfortunate which may send a wrong
signal that Osun State Government is
clearly favouring one religion over the
other. The meeting which was well attended,
had in attendance the National Officers
of the Association, all the five Heads of
blocs, the zonal chairmen, the states
chairmen and delegates representing
the five blocs of the association; Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN),
Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN)
Christian Pentecostal Fellowship of
Nigeria/ Pentecostal Fellowship of
Nigeria (CPFN/PFN), TEKAN/ECWA, and
Organisation of African Instituted Churches. Vanguardngr.com

Religion should be relegated and separated within our society.

Op, you wan be FTC on your post again?

Op who asked for your opinion on your own thread?

Imagine...