Better Oyo Movement (BOM), a sociopolitical group, has warned the state governor, Engr Seyi Makinde, against dividing the state along a religious line as voters warm up for the conduct of the 2023 governorship elevation.
It was stated that any attempt to divide citizens and residents of the state along religious lines would be met with disappointment, as the people, in the group’s opinion, were the same, their religious differences notwithstanding.
Reacting to a viral message purportedly issued by the Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Oyo State Chapter, which read: “Your Eminences, Christian Association Of Nigeria Oyo State Chapter has decided that we should please persuade members of our congregation to cast their votes for Engr Seyi Makinde of PDP for the continuation of sustainable development in Oyo State on Saturday, 11 March, 2O23. It is a Christian mandate. God bless. Chairman CAN Oyo State.”
BOM was quoted in a statement by its Chairman, Dr. Femi Fakunle, telling the governor to note that long before he became helmsman, during his tenure, and indeed after, people of different faith have lived will continue to live peacefully together in the state. No dirty politics, engineered by self-serving politicians, will ever separate them.
The statement read, “Oyo Muslims, Christians, and Traditionalists, including freethinkers, have always co-existed peaceably, in line with the Yoruba’s lifelong history of tolerance, love, and understanding, with almost all families having members practicing one or two of these faiths, and everyone joyfully celebrating each other’s festivals.
“What desperation has now pushed Candidate Makinde into pressurizing CAN, to the point the Association can begin forwarding divisive messages like this, is the stuff of fables, which demands critical interrogation. So Governor Makinde is now the Christian Mandate? Pray, which mandates are other contestants?
“Is this election now a matter of life and death, or what straw won’t the governor cling to in his bid to earn an unmerited re-election? Are Christians the only residents in a state like Oyo with a fair and equitable share of several adherents?
BOM, therefore, criticized the governor, and his handlers, for traveling this grossly irresponsible and immature divisive route, warning them against continuation on a path it describes as destructive and capable of setting the state on fire, unfortunately over a worldly position that will end, no matter how great, one day, someday.
“We call on Gov. Makinde not to set Oyo State on fire and advise him to call his handlers to order, lest they engineer an unimaginable religious crisis, whose end no one can tell.
“Equally, we call on CAN not to dabble into the murky waters of politics, especially since Oyo State isn’t a one-party state, and essentially because what should bother the church is the continued spreading of the good news and not some power struggle. We wish to remind Gov. Makinde and CAN that winning an election into an executive position demands broad-based support and not just some sectional endorsement that gives that candidate off as the anointed candidate of any religion. If for anything, Labour Party’s Peter Obi’s loss in the just concluded presidential election is a classic example of how not to be a sectional candidate,” BOM concluded.