Anambra bans religious activities in public schools

The Anambra Government, on Friday, banned religious bodies from
using either public schools or its facilities, to conduct religious
services across the state.

The state Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment,
Mr Don Adinuba, announced the ban in an interview with the News
Agency of Nigeria in Onitsha.

Adinuba said the ban became imperative because of the ongoing
seeming ownership tussle of Bishop Crowder Memorial School,
Onitsha, being contested between the state and the Diocese on the
Niger, Anglican Communion.

NAN recalls that the Church, through its legal Secretary, Mr
Tabugbo Anaeto, is laying ownership of the school.

NAN further reports that members of the Anglican Church recently
staged a peaceful protest and subsequently released a statement,
accusing the state government of its alleged refusal to allow it to
assume ownership of its property.

Anaeto, in a statement, alleged that the state government had
refused to make public the report of the fact-finding committee on
the ownership of the school set up by former governor Peter
Obi.

But the commissioner dismissed the allegation, saying that the
school, established by government during the colonial era, had been
operated since then by the state government till date.

“The original name of the school began as Local Authority School
under the colonial masters; it never belonged to any church.

“If they really lay claim of ownership, they should come forward
with documents to prove that, but we do not want to engage in a
press war with any organisation or individual in the state.

“It will not be in the interest of the people of the state to
engage in any kind of press war,” the commissioner told NAN.

Adinuba explained that the Deputy Governor had granted an oral
plea by Anglican Church to allow it to conduct mid-week services in
the school on Wednesdays.

The commissioner said the church had been conducting mid-week
service within the school premises but expressed surprise that it
suddenly started erecting structures within the school compound
without authorization.

According to him, “what you know is not your own, why take it by
blackmail,” the commissioner queried, saying that every property
owned by churches were documented by the state government.

“The Anambra Government has, therefore, banned religious
services from being conducted in publicly owned secondary schools
across the state based on our experience.

“This is because if they are allowed to worship there, it may
turn out to become their own without documentary evidence,” Adinuba
said.

(NAN)