Bishop David Oyedepo, the Presiding Bishop of the Living Faith Church worldwide, has warned that mission schools in Kwara State should not be dragged into the hijab controversy.
Oyedepo noted that the crisis had lingered because the church did not show the opposing side in the controversy “the other side of God” and the “consuming fire of God.”
The cleric stated this on Wednesday during the church’s midweek service, while warning that mission schools should be returned to their founders to avoid a religious crisis in the state.
Oyedepo himself hails from Omu-Aran, a town in the Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State.
He said, “It is such a nasty development in Kwara State where Muslims are asking their students in our schools to wear hijab, and the church said ‘no’. You know the reason why, we have never showed the world the other side of God. God is not a toy; let us show them the consuming fire part of God. They need to know.
”Leave the schools for the owner, go to your schools. Is there any fight? Stop putting fingers in the eyes of others, the world should be warned against the church. The church is a time bomb.
”When God turns his back on anyone or any system, that system is cursed. My advice is; leave the schools for the owners, find your schools. Men and women can wear hijab there. Stop putting your fingers in the eyes of others when they are not blind.”
Christians and Muslims in the state have been at loggerheads over hijab wearing for female students in 10 government grant-aided missionary schools in the state.
Last Friday, the state government threatened to sanction teachers and workers of 10 mission schools earlier shut down in Ilorin with sanctions if they failed to resume.
The directive was in reaction to the resolve of the Christian community leaders to defy the government’s directive and sustain their resistance against the use of the hijab and the demand to return mission schools to their original owners.
However, the state government is contesting the stance of the Christian community saying, there will be no compromise on the demands as the government had taken over the schools since 1974, with the backing of the Nigerian constitution and Kwara State laws.
Although the matter of the hijab use is still in court, the government went ahead few weeks ago to state that hijab should be allowed in all public schools and grant-aided missionary schools in the state.
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