Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State on Friday said there are more than enough security and corruption challenges waiting to be tackled by the Federal Government instead of allowing politicians to foment troubles in a peaceful state such as Osun.
The governor said rather than allow selfish politicians to spin lies and concoct stories aimed at eliminating him, ultimately, the activities of terrorists and acute corruption in high places require much more urgent solutions if Nigeria must move forward.
Speaking at the opening of the first session of the Ninth Synod of the Diocese of Osun (Anglican Communion) at Saint Andrew’s Anglican Church, Ada, Aregbesola said the recent hullabaloo over the Islamisation of Osun State was a ruse to create religious disharmony and with a view to getting a state of emergency.
He stated: “I believe so strongly that the Federal Government and security agencies deserve our prayers at this time. Instead of plotting mischief and fomenting trouble in a peaceful state like Osun here, they need to take a grasp of the depth of the security challenges facing the nation.
“Some evil people are bent on blowing the nation apart and the security agencies seem to have no clue on how to tackle this menace.”
Aregbesola said corruption has become endemic noting: “Imagine again the hundreds of billions of naira of pension funds being creamed off by corrupt government officials and the over N1 trillion fuel subsidy already stolen by oil cartels working in cahoots with political party officials and for which the Federal Government has not found any solution.”
The governor said that he had received major support of the Christian communities in the state even before becoming the chief executive of the state.
He said: “I am fortunate to be a beneficiary of the goodwill of Christians in my public career. Christians are among my staunchest supporters before, during and after my election; through the dark days and until now. I am particularly grateful for the support I received from the Christian community during the struggle for the reclamation of my mandate and the recent failed attempt at causing mayhem in the State of Osun by agents of darkness.
“Osun Christians hate injustice and will not condone it even if the perpetrators are their co-religionists. They stood firmly by me, not minding the consequences to their lives, property and liberty. Indeed, many were killed, raped, wounded, assaulted and hounded into involuntary exile for standing with justice. We were in the trenches together, fighting for justice, until the courageous and God-fearing judges of the Ibadan Court of Appeal vindicated us, restored my mandate and kicked out the impostors from power.”
He added that he was consoled by the fact that the plan to plunge the state into chaos had failed woefully.
He added: “To the glory of the Almighty and the goodwill of the Christians in this state, the plot failed woefully and miserably. Apart from the few text messages, the Christian community did not buy the lie and thus refused to be provoked. It just simply beggars belief that I can Islamise a state populated with millions of adherents of other faiths just like that.
“It is not surprising that the first people to come to the Government House on solidarity visit were the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria in the state. Other Christian leaders followed suit in the following week. Till today, I am still receiving solidarity visits from people of goodwill from the state and all over the country.”
Aregbesola explained to the members of the Anglican Communion that the issue of new school uniforms, which the opposition politicians attempted to use to cause chaos, was approved by members of the executive council of the state.
Saying that the executive council is made up majorly of Christians, Aregbesola also said that the local adire batik material chosen for the schools uniforms is aimed at promoting the economy of the state.
He said: “The allegation that I planned to Islamise Osun because our government has decided to give free uniform to pupils in public schools is pure mischief. School uniform in our public schools is part of our well-thought-out policy on education reform. We are constructing state-of-the-art buildings for our schools. We are also introducing free meals in elementary schools. Computer tablets will be given free to 150,000 pupils in our senior secondary schools from next month.
“It is therefore mischief straight from the pit of hell for this lofty scheme to be portrayed as an Islamising agenda.”