Stop fighting Aregbesola, Speaker begs Baptists

Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola

The  Speaker, Osun State House of Assembly, Mr. Najeem Salaam, has appealed to Christians  particularly members of the Nigerian Baptist Convention in the state to stop fighting the government of Rauf Aregbesola.

A statement made available  to our correspondent in Osogbo on Wednesday by the Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker, Mr. Goke Butika,  quoted Salaam to have made the appeal while hosting the leadership of the Osun State Baptist  Conference, who  paid him a courtesy visit in his office.

Christians in the state have been at logger heads with the governor over his schools merger policy.

The Speaker said,  “We have uncovered the plot of some unscrupulous politicians, who are hell bent on tagging Aregbesola an Islamic fundamentalist with a view to exposing him to opprobrium of the people of other faith in order to gain cheap relevance.

“But the disposition of the governor to all faiths has shown him as a fair-minded person, who is doing justice to the oath of office and the constitution he sworn to.

“We are urging the leadership of Baptist denomination, and other Christian bodies to engage the government constructively on any given issue, instead of fighting the government in the media.  The Christian faithful are not known for aggression.”

The Speaker described  Aregbesola as a public officer, who was striving to uphold the “content and spirit of the oath of office he sworn to.”

He blamed those he described as  political jobbers and perennial aspirants for  working to  portray the  governor as a fanatic  to score cheap political relevance.

The President of Osun State Baptist  Conference, Rev. Paul Kolawole, in his response commended the state government for making the state peaceful.