Fashola Carpets Christian Body Over Demand For Christian Governor

 Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola on Monday carpets Christian bodies agitating for a Christian governor in Lagos next year.

Lagos state governor Babatunde Fashola

The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has demanded for a Christian governor to pilot the affairs of the state next year.

Fashola, while speaking at an inter-faith conference on “Peace, Religious Harmony and Good Governance: Issues and Challenges” in Lagos, Nigeria said he had read in the newspaper the call for Christian governor by some Christian group in Lagos, saying such move would only divide the state into religious line.

The governor stated that having a Christian governor is not synonymous to good governance, saying the trend was unhealthy and should not be allowed to fester long.

“I read in one of the papers this morning, a statement that was credited to the effect that a group is insisting on a Christian governor. I don’t recall the last time that a governor of Lagos was elected on his religious beliefs. What will the preference for governor of one faith over the other even benefit us? Will it give one religion roads that other faiths cannot use? Will it give them schools that children from other faiths cannot attend or will it bring water that only one faith can drink, or will it begin to draw a very clear line between poverty and the faith? Does hunger know your faith?

“Maybe we should begin to draw the line of distinction and begin to have Christian money and Muslim money; and in the blood banks now where life is being threatened, maybe we should begin to have Christian blood and Muslim blood,” he said.

He implored the people to shun all forms of religious dichotomy as the nation had integrated for over 50 years and could not afford to be taken aback now.

The governor also called on religious leader to ensure that they controlled what emanated from their pulpits as such could have negative or positive impact on the people.

The Governor who described faith as a powerful tool that must not be used for personal aggrandizement, cautioned against all forms of religious debate that would lead to nowhere.

“There are rules in the legal profession, there are rules in football as well; you cannot tackle from behind, what are the rules in religious debate, who is going to be the umpire. I know that there are many people for who spiritually is a calling; I also know that for some, it’s a business,” he stated.