Gov Abiodun Snubs Traditional Religious Leaders, as Churches, Mosques Remain Closed

By ABIODUN JIMOH, ABEOKUTA

Ogun State Government decision not to reopen worship centres has been attributed to the religious leaders who by themselves advised the government and kicked against it in the best interest of all residents.

Governor Abiodun revealed this in his address on update and efforts to combat Covid-19 pandemic held on Friday, 19th June, 2020 in his office, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, claimed to have had meetings with Islamic and Christian religious leaders.

Moreover, Daily Dispatch findings from his address revealed that he did not engage in any form of meeting with the traditional worshiper leaders across the state for deliberations on modalities for their own worship centres.

The governor in the address narrated that in his last briefing held two week ago, they were considering a tentative date of Friday, 19th June, 2020 to further ease the restrictions and allow gradual opening of places of worship on Fridays and Sundays.

He emphasised that towards this end, they have had robust engagements with the religious leaders. Christian Association of Nigeria and the League of Imams and Alfas.

He elaborated: “I must thank them for their forthrightness, cooperation and even appreciation that the curve of the spread of the pandemic is worsening and that places of worship represent most potent fertile grounds for the spread of the deadly virus.

“After a careful review of the data, feedback from the field, expert opinions, and lessons from far and near, two major conclusions are very clear and obvious to all: first, the COVID-19 situation in Ogun State and indeed in the country as a whole has not improved since the last update.

“Secondly, there are dire consequences in loss of human lives for premature relaxation of the guidelines, necessitating a rollback of the relaxation in a number of states and countries. Unfortunately, guidelines may be rolled back, the lost human lives cannot be rolled back.

“Consequently, we are confronted with two choices, yield to the demand of those who want the restrictions to be further relaxed or even completely removed, even if this is at variance with the dictates of incontrovertible data analysis and scientific opinion; or tow the path that preserves public health and safety, even if not so popular.”

Moreover, he stressed that as a responsible administration, they choose life and the wellbeing of citizens and are therefore constrained to take the painful but necessary decision to maintain the current regime of eased lockdown in the meantime.

“We are consequently suspending our initially slated reopening of places of worship. Let me thank some of our religious leaders who by themselves advised us that this is the best decision that we should take at this time in the best interest of all of us.

“This is not an easy decision, but we are confident that the wisdom and scientific basis for this decision will become clearer to those who may have initial misgivings about it.

“Since the advent of this pandemic in our state, our cautious, methodical, data-driven and scientifically supported approach has ensured not only comparably superior outcomes, we have also not had reasons to reverse our decisions, because our decisions are usually well thought out,” he bemoaned.