Kaduna kidnap: We've Produced President, Provided Education for 166yrs, Baptist Church Wails
- The Baptist Church is saddened over the abduction of students in the Chikun LGA of Kaduna state
- According to the Nigerian Baptist Convention led by Rev Israel Akanji, the incident is a bad history since the church started establishing schools in Nigeria
- Akanji said the church is currently speaking with the governor of the state, Nasir ElRufai, for the release of the students
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The Nigerian Baptist Convention has bitterly decried the abduction of students of Bethel Baptist School in the Chikun local government area of Kaduna state.
According to the church, Nigeria has enjoyed 166 years of quality education from its schools in some parts of the country with a lot of laudable track records.
Source: UGC
This was revealed by the president of the convention, Rev Israel Akanji, who spoke with Punch on Friday, July 9.
Akanji, who regretted the recent kidnap of schoolchildren in Kaduna, disclosed that the church started this task of providing state-of-the-art education for Nigeria in 1855, adding that politicians like Olusegun Obasanjo and MKO Abiola were products of its efforts.
He stated:
“One thing we have been letting everybody know is that the Baptist denomination has given education to Nigeria since 1855. For 166 years now, the Nigerian Baptist Convention has been providing education.
“Our first institution is the Baptist Academy in Lagos, which is still an institution to reckon with today and has produced great men and women for Nigeria. And the Baptist Boys High School in Abeokuta, Ogun State, produced Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and the late Chief MKO Abiola. These are people who greatly impacted Nigeria."
Noting that this is the first time over a century students of Baptist school will be kidnapped in Nigeria, the president of the convention said that even the general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, Elijah Brown, has condemned the abduction.
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Moving forward, he added that the church has called on 127 countries where it is located to engage in emergency prayers for the release of the captives while talks with the state government on the issue are ongoing.
Kidnappers threaten starvation, demand 30 bags of rice
Meanwhile, the parents and management of the school had raised money to buy foodstuffs being demanded by abductors of the 121 students of the school.
A father of one of the abductees, who preferred to remain anonymous, said on Thursday, July 8, the school asked parents to pay any amount they could afford.
Legit.ng gathered that the father said there was panic among the parents when they heard that the bandits threatened to starve the students if the items were not provided.
Source: Legit.ng
