Osun state Chapter of
Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has stated that Christians in the state
public schools will start wearing Church garments to school if Governor Rauf
Aregbesola goes ahead to implement to recent State High judgment on wearing of
Hijab by Muslim students.
This statement was made through
a Communique issued and signed by the state CAN Chairman, Rev. Elisha Ogundiya
at the end of an emergency meeting of the state CAN Executive Committee, Heads
of Blocks and Heads of Churches held in Osogbo on Tuesday, June 7, 2016.
According to him, the meeting
deliberated on the outcome of the Hijab Case with particular reference to the
3rd June, 2016 judgment of Hon. Justice Saka Oyejide Falola of the Osun State
High Court sitting at Court No. 5 Osogbo and resolved on a number of issues.
“OS-CAN states that it finds
itself unable to agree with the judgement in its entirety as we have reasons to
believe that it represents a study in premeditated adjudication that runs
against the printed grain of legal submissions made before him. We have
unanimously decided to appeal the judgement.
“Specifically speaking, Justice
Saka Oyejide Falola deeply violated the principle of fair hearing when he
refused and or failed to hear, let alone rule, one way or the other, on the
application for a joinder in the case properly filed and brought to his
attention in open court by the interested parties whose schools were taken over
forcefully by the government and stood to be affected by the judgment he later
proceeded to deliver.
“Further, Justice Saka Oyejide
Falola made an ancillary order which was not based, anchored or premised on any
submission or prayer canvassed by the parties before him that by saying by way
of ancillary Order, The Muslim Female Students Hijab shall be in the color and
design already approved by the 1st-3rd Respondents and currently in use by
Muslim Female Students in Public Schools or any other design recommended by the
1st-3rd Respondents.
“We maintain that since none of
the parties in the case canvassed for such Order, he went out of the processes
to descend into the arena to suit the desire of his fellow religious faithful.
It is, for now, better left to the imagination where Justice Saka Oyejide
Falola came by this detail extraneous to the filed processes in the Suit.
“That the judgment read
severally that Hijab is a means of propagation of Islam which he said is a
fundamental right of Muslim girls and ladies.This declaration violates the
religious right of the original owners of the missionary schools as agreed upon
when the schools were taken over by the then government of Oyo State in 1975.
“That the government be wary
about giving effect to this judgment which we suspect was masterminded by
Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola a la work-to-rule mode in line with his Islamization
Agenda which was earlier stated by the Directorate of Military Intelligence in
2012 based on credible intelligence and corroborated by OS-CAN in 2014. This
unshed toga of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola flies in the face of the fact of the
overwhelming number of Christians in Osun State vis-a-vis Muslims.
“We urge all Christians in Osun
State to be law abiding and live peacefully as we have always done with our
neighbours irrespective of their religious inclination while we seek to employ
all legitimate means to resist any form of Islamization of our beloved State where,
incidentally, Christians constitute the larger number.
“Where the Osun State
Government is inclined to implementing the judgment Christian students in all
public schools founded by Christians with the toil and sweat of our forefathers
in the faith will have no choice but to start wearing Christian garments and
vestments as part of their school uniform for the propagation of our own faith
given the Justice Saka Oyejide Falola declared right of Muslim Female Students
to do same as what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander as
well. Adherents of other faiths who have their choice to make in this matter
can wear theirs as well.
“We urge the Osun State House
of Assembly to rise to the occasion as we find their silence on a matter of
public interest this clearly capable of dividing the State, the Security
Services, the Civil Service, the Market Women, School Students and all citizens
along religious fault lines rather disturbing. It presents The Osun State House
of Assembly as complicit in the putting together of the ticking and
soon-to-explode time-bomb this matter certainly is.
CAN called on all men and women
of goodwill, Muslims and Christians, The Presidency, The National Assembly and
the International Community to intervene in this situation before it escalates
beyond control.
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