From Gyang Bere, Jos
President Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), Rev. Stephen Baba Panya has appealed to Federal and State Governments in Nigeria to stop the use of state power to dominate and marginalized christians in the country.
He said the church will not accept the imposition of Hijab by Kwara State Government on Christians schools in the state.
Rev. Panya disclosed this yesterday during a press conference in Jos and said minority christians are being marginalized by dominance Muslims in most parts of the North.
“We appeal to government at all levels to stop the use of state powers to favour one religion over another.
“Of serious concern is the attempt by the Kwara state government to impose the use of Hijab in Christians schools on the state. It must be clear that the careful use of the term ‘grant-aided ‘ schools, being publicized by the state government would not not insult the common sense of Nigerians to make then see christian schools other than what they have always been.
“Ten schools were shut down by the state government in an attempt to bully the Christian schools to adopting the use of Hijab and the staff of the schools are being intimidated into returning to work under the new law law which infringes on the Christian ethics of running mission schools.”
Rev. Panya urged Kwara State Government to return all mission schools to their owners without any grant aiding and advocated the schools be administered in accordance to the tenets of their faith .
He expressed worried of the missus of government machinery in favour of one religion over the other in the case of imposition of a Muslim candidate as Chief against popular choice of a christian candidate on Tangale Chiefdom on Gombe state.
“This is a case with regards the imposition of a Christian candidate, over a community that is more than 90 percent christian in the Tangale Chiefdom of Gombe state.
“This is clearly a forceful imposition on the psyche of Nigerians that there is dominance of one religion over the other or that the edherents of other religious beliefs are second class citizens.”
He said it has been come very difficult to differentiate between Fulani herdsmen, bandits and Boko Haram members as their antics are the same.
“Whole money is more of a driving force for bandits, land grabbing and territorial expansion is more dominant Boko Boko Haram.”