CAN demands details of Osun education policy

The General Secretary, Christian Association of Nigeria, Reverend Musa Asake, has said the national executive of the association has intervened in the conflict between the Osun State government and Christians in the state. He advised the government to make the documents of its new education policy public to allay fears that Governor Rauf Aregbesola, was bent on making the state Islamic. Under the new policy, many public schools in the state were merged, while some were scrapped. The development had pitted Christians in the state against the government and Muslims, with mass protests by Christian groups. The CAN in the state had alleged that the policy was introduced to wipe away the heritage bequeathed to them by the early missionaries. Speaking to our correspondent on the telephone on Friday, Asake said a CAN delegation to the state had met the deputy governor and other government officials. He added that a meeting would be called between the state CAN and the officials for verification of the policy. He further said pending the time the meeting would be called, “there’s no need for stopping the protests.” He stated that the government should listen to the protesters, as Christians were part of the electorate that voted the government into power. The CAN secretary said with his findings during the visit, the state government needed to make documents on the policy available to Christians in the state for proper study and to be sure that the policy had nothing Islamic about it. He, however, said if the policy had Islamic nature, the government might be trying to favour one religion more than the other. Asake said, “We will like the government to bring out the documents regarding that so-called plan so that Christians will read and allay their fears. That document, we are made to understand, has Sharia law guidelines. “Again, we were made to understand that at the end of the day, once the law they have is changed, the property they are using will come under Sharia. That is why you hear the Christians in the state saying that it is a step to Islamise the state. “If it is indeed for progress, the Christians will need to see the documents and make sure that they are what the government said they were.”