OAU suspends religious activities in school hostels

Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, has banned religious activities from halls of residences within the institution’s campus.

A circular dated June 4 was signed to this effect by Grace Akinola, the university’s dean of student affairs.

“All religious activities are hereby suspended in halls of residence, students are hereby implored to pray in their rooms or move down to religious ground,” the circular read.

A student told TheCable Lifestyle that the order was prompted by the indiscriminate use of unapproved locations for religious activities by both Muslim and Christian religious groups.

“We have about 50 fellowships and churches in the university. Some OAU fellowships tend to overdo their activities which thereby sometimes constitutes a nuisance in the hostels,” said the student.

“They hold meeting in hostel cafeterias, waiting rooms, sports courts, even lecture rooms even though OAU has special arrangement for religious activities in a place called religious ground.”

The management of the institution has also sealed two halls housing mosques over the crisis within the Muslim students’ body of the university.

Akinola had in September 2016 alerted the public of the emergence of a splinter group in the school’s chapter of the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN).

The faction was accused of going against Islamic religious doctrines and school laws.

Gbolahan Yusuf Abdulhamed, general secretary, OAU chapter of MSSN, had subsequently countered Akinola’s allegations, saying that a thorough investigation was not carried out on the matter.