Re: Aregbesola’s misguided church project

After reading the editorial of The PUNCH newspaper of Tuesday, January 21, 2014, titled: “Aregbesola’s misguided church project”, every discerning reader will be compelled to ask: What is the motive behind the write-up that would conveniently pass for a desperate attempt at promoting religious tension, especially in a state where faith is immaterial in how the citizens relate with one another?

In summary, the editorial accused Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State of lacking a clear understanding of core functions of government simply because his administration embarks on the construction of a 200,000-capacity interdenominational worship centre in the state. The editorial went on to state that it was a taboo for any government to dabble in matters of religion and that rather than face issues of development especially using agriculture, the government was busy taking over cultivable lands from farmers.

Perhaps, what sounds most ridiculous in all the claims is that the Open Heavens Christian Convention Centre amounts to a “bribe” to silence a section of Christians in the state who had viewed with suspicion some of the administration’s programmes and policies and had tagged them anti-Christian in what remains a largely unsubstantiated claim. For the avoidance of doubt, Aregbesola chose December 4, 2010, an occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Ilesa Grammar School, to announce the state’s plan to embark on the project.

Of course, the idea of a worship centre was not just a happenstance as the editorial sought to make it look. It emanated from the realisation that many famous church leaders have their roots in Osun, precisely Ilesa and its environs. Among these are Pastor E. A. Adeboye of the RCCG; the late Joseph Ayo Babalola, who was the first indigenous Christian evangelist from Ilesa; W. F. Kumuyi, the late Prophet T.O. Obadare, Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo, Pastor Kayode Abiara, Prophet G. O. Fakeye and a host of others. It must be stated that the land for the project was freely given by the community through the Looja of Odo-Iju in Atakunmosa-West Local Government Area, Mr. Adelekun. The compensation recently paid was government’s way of supporting the people of the community for their high sense of patriotism.

The bribery insinuation takes the argument to an all-low and pedestrian nadir. How wrong could The PUNCH be in insinuating bribery and ominous gift! Bribe for who and for what?

Every serious government must recognise what potential there is and exploit that for its people’s economic advancement. Just as you have religious tourism, there is medical tourism popular in Germany and lately the United Arab Emirates.

Had the economic development of Osun State been a major concern of The PUNCH editorial, it would have examined the huge economic potential in the congregation of about 200,000 visitors/worshippers to our state weekly for a year.

If a worshipper spends an average of N1,000 in each visit, Osun will rake in a whopping N10.4 billion in a year from what the editorial prefers to demonise as a “dangerous religious venture.”

One wonders how The PUNCH’s argument that religion is purely a private affair where government interventions amount to taboos can be sustained. The Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great, began building the Old St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City between 319 and 333 AD. Today, it is a famous place of pilgrimage, attracting many visitors to the Vatican. Services at St. Peter’s have been attracting between 15,000 and 80,000 people. Even though Osun may not be able to finance a monumental structure as the Basilica, the dream of an Interdenominational Worship Centre has a tremendous potential to attract audiences to the tune of 200,000, given the attention Nigerians pay to worship today.

But if history is too remote for the editorial to grasp, there are contemporary interventions of government across the world on issues of religion. If governments have no business with religions, why do they spend money to maintain the religious shrines and monuments in Saudi Arabia and Israel, attracting millions of people every year? Does religious tourism in some of the world’s most visited shrines not constitute significant percentage of their GDPs?

Semiu Okanlawon

Director, Bureau of Communications and Strategy,

Office of the Governor,

Osogbo.