The Cherubim and Seraphim Unification Church of Nigeria has appealed to Kwara State Governor Abdulrahman AbdulRazaq not to ignite religious crisis in the country with his decision to tamper with dress code of Christian schools in the state.
The state government last month issued a directive allowing female Muslim students to wear hijab to government-aided Christian schools in the state, a decision firmly resisted by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and owners of the affected schools.
The Supreme Head of the church, Prophet Solomon Adegboyega Alao, said Nigeria is facing serious crisis threatening its corporate existence at this period and Kwara state should not add to it.
He pleaded with President Muhammad Buhari, as the Chief Security Officer of the country, to intervene and prevail on the governor to see reasons why wearing of hijab by female students should not be enforced in schools established by Christians.
The clergyman said what should be paramount to the state government should be how to take practical steps to improve quality of education and better performance of the students, not changing the dress code.
Alao said: “With the security situation in the country, why do we need to segregate Muslim students from others? Does Kwara State Government want to give out other female students that are not Muslims as easy targets for bandits and terrorists groups?
“This is very unfortunate, because making Muslim students to dress in a particular manner from others is making us to suspect sinister motives not yet known to the public.”
He said the governor, as a Muslim, has nothing to gain by forcing the tenet of his religion on others, even when there are public schools in Ilorin established Muslims.
Alao urged the governor to imagine a situation where other religious leaders in the state ask their adherents to dress in a manner to portray their religious sentiment to school, such as C&S members to wear their white garments to school, orthodox churches asking their members to wear choir uniform or traditional worshippers going to school dressing like masquerades.
He insisted that it would be disastrous for government to let the issue of dress code affect students in the missionary schools affected from sitting for the coming Senior Secondary School Examination (SSCE) and other national examinations, expressing optimism that AbdulRazaq would review his stand on the matter, return to status quo ante and allow peace to reign in the Kwara State and Nigeria.