{"id":22876,"date":"2014-02-17T15:32:31","date_gmt":"2014-02-17T14:32:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=22876"},"modified":"2014-02-17T15:32:31","modified_gmt":"2014-02-17T14:32:31","slug":"apc-and-change-the-aregbesola-example","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/apc-and-change-the-aregbesola-example\/","title":{"rendered":"APC and \u201cChange\u201d: The Aregbesola Example"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Kayode Ojo<\/b><\/em><\/b><\/div>\n
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Not only is it trending on some social media platforms, the question of how the All Progressives Congress (APC) is going to achieve the \u201cchange\u201d the party is promising is a topical issue.\u00a0\u00a0The subject is relevant because many Nigerians simply cannot reconcile some of the leading lights of the APC with the idea of change since they have been part of Nigeria\u2019s political landscape for too long to be chanting \u201cchange\u201d today.<\/div>\n
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Moreover, the Monday, February 10, 2014 \u201cHogwash!<\/b>\u201d advertorial published in some newspapers by the Atiku Media Office inadvertently confirmed what many suspected, which is that \u201cchange\u201d is just a slogan that has little to do with the reality in the APC.\u00a0\u00a0Although the advertorial set out to dispel what the media office described as a \u201cmalicious report\u201d, it unwittingly revealed that a deal may have been sealed with the APC National Leader, Bola Tinubu, to cede the party\u2019s presidential ticket to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.\u00a0\u00a0Whether this ultimately proves to be without basis is not the point.\u00a0\u00a0What is noteworthy is that this is the same sort of arrangement that once existed in the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), a now defunct party which forms the bedrock of the APC.<\/div>\n
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Setting aside the likely repetition of the old ACN scenario, there is a rather problematic image issue that dogs the APC.\u00a0\u00a0Even objective analysts cannot deny that the APC has somehow managed to put on the toga of a particular religion.\u00a0\u00a0This, naturally, cannot be in the party\u2019s favour considering the multi-religious composition of the Nigerian nation.\u00a0\u00a0And while one is unwilling to accept that accentuating a preference for one religion over others might be a deliberate party policy, the truth is that a leading light of the APC, Rauf Aregbesola, Governor of the State of Osun, is doing everything within his considerable powers as a state chief executive to confirm that perception.<\/div>\n
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As a recent editorial in the\u00a0Vanguard<\/i>\u00a0newspaper stated, \u201cNo governor has promoted religion more than Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State.\u00a0\u00a0He is proud of his religion for which he gets a lot of bashing.\u00a0\u00a0In response, he has accorded recognition to the three religions that he considers the major ones\u2014 Christianity, Islam and traditional ways.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0It is worrisome if the governor\u2019s recognition of these three religions does not in some way contravene Chapter I, Part II, Section 10 of the 1999 Constitution which states: \u201cThe Government of the Federation or of a State shall not adopt any religion as State Religion.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Moreover, the\u00a0Vanguard<\/i>\u00a0editorial also related that, \u201cIt is not unusual for prayers to be offered in the three religions at public events.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Regardless of whatever Aregbesola\u2019s intentions may have been, his overzealous engagement in matters with a religious tinge, including converting missionary schools to mixed schools, has left Osun reeling with sporadic outbreak of violence and seething with palpable tension.\u00a0\u00a0Indeed, in November 2013, a school principal was beaten to pulp on a matter related to religion.<\/div>\n
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As matters stand, even the APC National Leader, Bola Tinubu, has recently journeyed to Osogbo, the Osun State capital, to preside over a peace meeting between Aregbesola\u2019s government and the South West arm of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). And yet, there are still no guarantees that the intermittent violence that has broken out in Osun over matters of religion is now a thing of the past.\u00a0\u00a0Indeed, media reports have it that there is still tension in some parts of the state.<\/div>\n
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It is in the light of this disturbing scenario that one begins to wonder if this is the sort of \u201cchange\u201d the APC might be planning to impose on Nigeria if it is voted into power at the centre.\u00a0\u00a0And though one is unwilling to accept that a party that has garnered so much goodwill among Nigerians in the short time of its existence can be planning something so sinister, what are Nigerians to make of APC\u2019s chant of \u201cchange\u201d in the face of Aregbesola\u2019s example?<\/div>\n
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Governor Aregbesola himself is well aware that all is not well in his domain.\u00a0\u00a0He is reported to have said: \u201cYoruba people have a tradition of accommodation and inclusion; that is why our families are interwoven around all religions. Some people, goaded from hell, however, are working to break our bond of unity by beating the drum of religious war. They will fail and only they and their families will dance to that evil beat.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Even if his choice of rather unstatesmanlike words can be excused, Aregbesola is being somewhat disingenuous by attempting to foist the cause of the clashes in his state on \u201csome people.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Who are these nebulous \u201csome people?\u201d Is the governor claiming not to be aware that it is his stoking of religious tensions that has led to the violence in Osun?\u00a0\u00a0As the\u00a0Vanguard<\/i>\u00a0editorial concluded, \u201cReligion is being abused in Osun State \u2013 people now see religion in everything.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0And no matter what sophistry Aregbesola may wield, he his squarely to blame.\u00a0\u00a0One can only pray that his APC will never have the opportunity to foist such manner of \u201cchange\u201d on the Nigerian nation.<\/div>\n
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