Bandits were paid N250 million by the Nigeria Baptist Convention to release an abducted Bethel student.

Bandits were paid N250 million by the Nigeria Baptist Convention to release an abducted Bethel student.

FastNews reports that the Nigeria Baptist Convention paid N250 million to bandits to secure the release of abducted Bethel School students.

The Nigeria Baptist Convention has revealed that it spent N250 million to secure the release of students kidnapped by terrorists from Bethel Baptist College in Kaduna in 2021.

According to Tribune, the President of the Nigeria Baptist Convention, Rev Dr. Israel Akanji, made the announcement in Gombe on Friday during the 2022 International General Workers Conference for the North-East, which was held at the First Baptist Church in Gombe.

Gunmen raided the church-owned school in Damishi, Kaduna, in the early hours of Monday, July 5, 2021, and abducted 121 children.

Akanji also scored the fight against insecurity by President Muhammadu Buhari-led’s administration as below par considering the number of innocent lives of Nigerians that have been lost through various acts of banditry and insurgency.

He said, “Initially we didn’t want to spend money, we didn’t believe in spending any money, that was how we began. I even said openly that we will not spend money but I am also saying it openly now that we have had to spend money, we were forced to spend money.

“When our children spent one month and did not come back and these bandits were telling us that they would start killing our children one by one, then we had to weigh the money we had in our pockets against the money we preferred to lose since the government would not help us, we had to resort to self-help. That is what happened and we had to spend so much money.

“There is no doubt in our minds, there is no one that convinces many of us that this administration has done enough on security. We are not saying that they have done nothing, they have been saying that they are doing their best but we are saying that their best is below the belt, far below our expectations.

“Whoever is going to be the next president of Nigeria must be ready to confront the insecurity in our land. For as long as some people are free to be carrying guns and be killing people while others are arrested for carrying the same thing, then there is a problem of injustice in the land.

“Arrest is discriminatory, you can see clearly in Nigeria, you don’t need to be told that someone like me will still be hiding and not saying the truth, it is a shame on the entire nation. At this level, we must say the truth to ourselves, the insecurity of this nation has been propelled by the high level of impunity.”