The Anambra Government has 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 on Friday in an interview with newsmen 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. The Church, through its
legal Secretary, Mr Tabugbo Anaeto, is claiming ownership of the school.
Members of the Anglican Church recently staged a peaceful protest and
subsequently released a statement, accusing the state government of its alleged
refusal from allowing 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 Gov. Peter Obi. But the commissioner dismissed the allegation, saying
that the school established by the government during the colonial era had
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. “This will not be
in the interest of the people of the state to engage in any kind of press war,”
the commissioner said. Adinuba explained that the Deputy Governor had granted
an oral plea by Anglican Church to allow it 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 authorisation.
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.