Director General of Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency OYSADA, Dr Debo Akande has denied a story linking him to the deliberate closure of Islamic Praying Ground at the agency’s headquarters located in the Total Garden area of Ibadan.

It would be called that Muslim Community in Oyo State, MUSCOYS, had in a statement accused the director general of the Oyo State Agricultural, Oyo State Agri-Business Development Agency, OYSADA, Dr Akande of shutting down the Mosque and Christian Fellowship Centre within the agency’s premises.

According to the statement, the DG asked the adherents of the two faiths to worship in the same place.

However, in a statement, Dr Akande stressed that the development came as a shock to him and other good people of the state. 

He also maintained that the description of him by the statement as “anti-Islam” and a despot who unilaterally decided to “stop Muslims from obeying the command of Allah,” runs contrary to everything that OYSADA stands for and represents.

He said: “OYSADA will not spend so much time dissecting the MUSCOYS press statement, it is important to clarify the circumstances which led to the OYSADA management requesting that the praying areas used by both Muslims and Christians at the agency be discontinued”

The statement maintained, “We have deliberately used the phrase “praying area” because to describe the structure used as a “mosque” is demeaning.

OYSADA DG further stressed that the buildings in question are Muslim Praying Ground (Mosque), Christian Praying Ground (Chapel), Toilet and Store, noted that the facilities are currently not fit for use. 

He maintained: “These were the major considerations that led to the temporary closure of these areas, contrary to what was presented in the statement, stressing that separate rooms were provided and assigned for prayers to Muslims and Christians.”

Some of the staff of the agency that spoke with journalists that were on an assessment tour of the facilities said the closure of the facilities became necessary due to the deplorable state of the affected structures.

A senior staff who briefed journalists on condition of anonymity stated that after returning from the pandemic break, they met the toilet in a deplorable condition, “the stench was so bad that we had to restrict the use of the worship centres, as well as that of the storage facility.” 

He said, “The plan was to quickly renovate the place so that we can go back to using them. But as I speak to you the file is still being processed, we held a meeting with our boss, Dr Debo Akande that we are exposed to security threats as unknown faces were seen sleeping inside our worship centres during productive hours and even overnight.”

“After the fruitful meeting with our boss, this gate was constructed by the boss himself, but promised a befitting toilet, storage and praying areas for us.”

“We have been living together in peace and harmony here, there is no rancour between the Muslim and Christian faiths here. Some people just want to aggravate the situation to suit a narrative”. He continued

In his contributions, a former Director of Administrative Services at OYSADA and a Muslim, Mr Fajimi, told journalists that he was privy to be at the meeting held with members of MUSCOYS.

Mr Fajimi further maintained that there was no plan to keep the area permanently closed, stressing that Dr Debo used his personal resource to fix the gate at the entrance when he was approached over the insecurity of staff members’ lives and theft of the agency’s materials.

“We all agreed for the temporary closure of those affected structures due to their deplorable states and this was communicated to the leadership of MUSCOYS, who were urged to enable needed rehabilitation to be done.”

Mr Fajimi further stressed that “there was no plan to leave the place permanently closed. Dr Akande has said the place will be re-opened after meeting with management. [MUSCOYS] should have reported exactly what happened and not present this story the way they did. It is high time journalists verify their stories before dissemination, they should always try to find out the true situation before they begin to tell stories.”

“Come to think of it, if he is anti-Muslim for closing a mosque as stated in the falsehood report, is he also anti-Christian? Surely, if one religion was being exalted above the other, the Christians would be allowed to continue using their space while Muslims were stopped.” 

“Interestingly, Alhaji Dawud Makanjuola Akinola the Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Edo and Delta States, who has waded into the matter, saw the need to ensure the hygienic and pious worship by Ummah, by commencing the construction of modern toilet facilities for the OYSADA mosque. If there was nothing wrong with the facility, why would they want to expedite repairs?”  Mr Fajimi asked.

Iyabo Adebisi

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