Ondo Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has promised that the government will build a new memorial park for victims of the June 5, 2022 terror attack on St Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Owo.
Aiyedatiwa spoke on Friday after an expansive meeting held with religious leaders in the state in Akure.
The memorial park built by the immediate former Governor, late Rotimi Akeredolu, was demolished last weekend.
The demolition has since generated reactions and divergent views.
At the meeting held inside the Cocoa Conference Hall of the government office in Akure, Aiyedatiwa said he has already set up a team of government officials to liaise with stakeholders to make arrangement in building a new memorial park.
The Governor explained that the new location must be a place within the Owo community that would also be acceptable to all parties involved, most especially to the church and the people of Owo.
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He told the religious leaders, who were led by the Catholic Bishop of Ondo Diocese, Jude Arogundade; Bishop of Owo Diocese, Steven Fagbemi; and the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) represented by his deputy, Ayodeji Komolafe, that religion and culture must coexist peacefully.
The Governor, however, underscored the need to find a balance between culture and religion, saying it was what prompted demolition of the Memorial Park to make way for a new one that will not cause any communal crisis.
He warned all parties involved and critics of the demolition to refrain from inciting languages and narratives that could lead to a breakdown of law and order in the community.
Remarking on behalf of other religious leaders, Arogundade said the crisis that followed the demolition was unnecessary.
He added that the church has accepted the decision to relocate the Memorial Park and will give support to the committee that will find a suitable location for a new cenotaph.
The bishop further stressed that Owo community has been accommodating to the Catholic Church for decades as the first church to settle in the town.
He promised that the church leaders would continue to accord the culture of Owo, the stool of the Olowo and the Olowo-in-Council, the respect they deserved.
The controversies trailing the demolition of the Memorial Park in Owo may have been laid to rest with the meeting as the religious leaders accepted and pledged support for the relocation of the cenotaph to another site.