I’ve no plan to Islamise Osun state – Aregbesola

Osun state governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has again described the allegation that he planned to Islamise the state and secede from the country as falsehood and lacking any iota of fact. Aregbesola, made the clarifi cation while speaking as special guest of honour at the inauguration of Board of Trustees of the Muslim Media Watch Group of Nigeria at Government House, Osogbo, at the weekend. Represented by the Grand Mufty, Osogbo land, Sheik Maruf Ishola, Aregbesola noted that Muslims have been ‘unfair victims’ of media bias in Nigeria.

“In our own country, fake news, hate messages and subtle (and not so subtle) incitements along ethnic and religious lines by the media carry the grave portents of triggering a catastrophic civil war from which we may never recover. “Without investigating and publishing only confi rmed truth, journalism is nothing more than a rumour mill. We must be able to separate free speech from libel and promotion of falsehood. “If you say that Aregbesola wants to Islamise Osun and secede from Nigeria, you must be able to back it up by facts and incontrovertible evidence. Failing this, it has become libel and falsehood which is injurious to my person, the government of Osun, our political party, the APC and ultimately the entire society,” he said.

Speaking on “Eff ective Use of Mass Media for Da’wah”, the guest speaker, former Managing Director of the defunct National Concord Newspaper, Alhaji Liad Tella, identifi ed ‘media bias’ against Islam as hindrance to the eff ective use of media for propagating Islam. He maintained that Nigeria government and the media were aware for a long time that Boko Haram are not Muslims, but intentionally addressing them as Islamic sect. According to Tella, efforts to deceive members of the public from knowing that Osun state, especially public schools, is dominated by Muslims, necessitated the war against hijab in the state.

“Media distortions and half truth or outright falsehood about Islam and Muslim is very confounding because the fundamentals of journalism are rested on truth. “Fair balanced and objective reportage are the cardinal ethics and supposed inviolable principles of journalism. Unfortunately, this is not so with media reportage on Islam and Muslim in Nigeria.

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