Bethel abduction: Parents seek spiritual intervention

…We’ll not be intimidated- Baptist Church

Christian leaders and parents of the abducted students of Bethel Baptist High School, Kaduna, Friday converged on the school premises at Kujama in Chikun Local Government Area to pray for divine intervention for the release of their children.

Tears flowed freely during the three-and-half-hour prayer session organised by the Kaduna Baptist Conference, which saw top Christian leaders, including the president, Nigerian Baptist Convention, The Rev Israel Akanji and the Kaduna State chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), The Rev John Joseph Hayab.

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Parents and other sympathisers wore black for the prayer session, which commenced around 12 noon and ended around 3:30pm. One of the parents, whose 14-year-old daughter is among the 121 students abducted from the school on July 5, said it had become necessary to seek divine intervention for the release of their children.

“We prayed to God to bring back our children and expose those who abducted them. We usually go to the school every day by 9am, but this time around, we decided to make it general for everyone to come and pray with us,” she said.

Daily Trust reports that the bandits had reached out to the school authority, demanding food to feed students and made a list of 10 bags of foreign rice, 20 bags of local rice, 20 bags of beans and 10 cartons of seasoning, as well as 10 kegs of oil and two bags of salt.

The school’s vice principal, Wakili Madugu, who said the bandits rejected the nine bags of rice and other food items offered by the school management yesterday, told our correspondents that he could not comment on the abduction further.

Speaking at the prayer session Friday, The Rev Akanji disclosed that this was the first abduction incident to hit the Church in 166 years since it started operating a secondary school in Nigeria.

Akanji stressed that the church would not be intimidated by the attack and would continue to contribute to the growth and development of education in Nigeria.

He said he had spoken with Governor Nasir el-Rufai to ensure the release of the students, and disclosed that the governor made a promise to him, which he hoped would come to fruition.

“The government is doing its best, but that is not good enough. I spoke with the commissioner of police on Tuesday and he said they were facing the problem of manpower. It means the inspector-general of police has accepted that there is inadequate manpower to handle security situations.

“Sometimes the bandits overpower our own security personnel. This is because we have inadequate weapons, or weapons are not in the hands of our people at the adequate time. I believe that something is wrong somewhere. I still believe the Nigerian Army is strong. So, if they are not doing the right thing in the country, something is wrong somewhere. Something must be done,” he said.

On his part, The Rev Hayab urged Christians to be united, and accused the government of Kaduna State of propaganda and intimidation.

“You cannot govern people by dividing them. Let the government be sincere and unite people and not divide them. They have failed. Nowhere is safe, we will not be intimidated. If the government had put these bandits on the run they would not have the mind to ask for food,” he said.