Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State yesterday hinted that his government has duly notified President Goodluck Jonathan of attempts by a security agency to implicate him over issues amounting to promotion of religious extremism and secession.
The governor, in a state-wide broadcast, said all allegations of Islamisation of the state and secession were calculated to scandalise his government.
A national daily had on Friday reported that Aregbesola had been placed on security watch over alleged Islamisation of the state and plans to secede.
While the governor described the allegation on religious extremism as patently false, he said that the second allegation on secession was laughable.
He said, “I want to assure you therefore, that there is no cause for alarm. What you are seeing is the handiwork of an overzealous and misguided leadership of a security agency that has mixed up allegiance to the constitution, the Nigerian people and their welfare with the partisan interest of a transient occupier of state office.
“This intelligence, we must assure you, has been in our possession and we have duly notified President Goodluck Jonathan who we believe has sensed the urgency of the matter and is working to correct this embarrassing disposition of the tiny leadership of a federal agency capable of causing chaos and destabilisation. The shenanigan will pass”.
Debunking allegation of promoting religious extremism, Aregbesola said nothing in the action of his administration since his assumption suggested this, adding that rather, his government had promoted religious harmony, tolerance and cooperation.
The governor further said, “Nigeria is a secular state in which the people are adherents of diverse religious faiths, while some are not religious at all. In our state here, we have large populations of members of all religious groups, including traditional, who have lived in harmony in the past 150 years, at least”.?