28 years jinx broken as Bello builds Kogi Govt House chapel

Kogi State is one of the states created by the military government about 28 years ago and it has had four elected governors with three of them coming from the eastern senatorial district of the state and only the incumbent happens to have come from Kogi central.

One thing is, however, unique about the state.  Despite the fact that no one has been able to ascertain the ratio of Muslims to Christians in  state, all the elected governors, former and incumbent, are Muslims.

They include Alhaji Abubakar Audu, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris, Captain Idris Wada and Alhaji Yahaya Bello.

The state has had three Christian military administrators since creation in 1991. They are Colonel Paul Omeruo (1993-1996), Col. Bzigu Afakirya (1996-1998) and Augustine Aniebo (1998-1999).

However, in spite of the domination of the two known religions, Christianity and Islam, the country is still regarded as a secular state where no religion is officially recognised by the constitution. But despite this, the Kogi State Government House, popularly known as Lugard House, has an imposing mosque within it which has been there since the construction of the seat of power in the state.

The mosque has been serving the Muslims working and living in and around the Government House to offer their daily and Jumat prayers to the almighty. But no church or chapel exists within the premises of the Government House that can give the Christians the opportunity of worshipping.

Christian leaders and the leadership of the Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN) were said to have made representations to the past leaders in the state on the need to build a chapel for Christians to worship in Government House, but the pleas were not heeded and the agitations continued from one government to another.

However, history was made penultimate Monday when the state government under the leadership of Alhaji Yahaya Bello laid the foundation of a chapel called “Chapel of Peace and Unity” for Christians to be using as a place of worship within the premises of the seat of power.

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The event drew the president of CAN,  Reverend Samson Ayokunle, and other leaders of the Christian community to the state as the governor, who was described as a detribalised person, broke the jinx of building a church in the Government House.

Speaking at the ceremony, Bello said he felt it was the right thing to do and that as people come from God, Christians deserved what is good, hence the decision to build the chapel.

He said: “When I arrived here as governor by the peculiar deeds of God, the construction of a place of worship for Christians inside the premises of the Kogi State Government House became a personal aspiration of mine.”

Bello, who noted that building a chapel anywhere is a small project for a governor, added that the chapel is not just going to be a place for worship for Christians, but also a place that gives them a sense of belonging in the scheme of things in the state.

“I remember that around 2015 while I was still campaigning to become  governor, my team and I noted the absence of a chapel in Lugard House even though a mosque for Muslim faithful was been built. We resolved to do something about it if God puts us in office,” he said.

He expressed regrets that for about 20 years, indigenous governors of the state took care of one religion and refused to build a corresponding place of worship for about half the populace in the very place co-owned by all citizens of the state, describing the action as an indication that demonstrates they either pretended not to notice.