Keoleh Saleh, the President of the Baptist Conference in Plateau State, says 50 church members, including a pastor, were killed in recent attacks in the State’s Mangu and Barkin Ladi Local Government Areas (LGAs).
In an interview on Sunday in Jos, the State capital, Mr Saleh disclosed that over 500 of its members were also displaced.
“This unfortunate carnage affected the Baptist Church seriously; In Kantoma, where we have a big church, we lost over 31 members, including a Moderator,” he said.He said 23 women lost their husbands in the attack. Mr Saleh added that nine and one members were killed in Jwak Maitumbi and Kombili, respectively.
“We have located four centres in Jos metropolis where a family is hosting between 10 to 20 people, and we have over 200 displaced persons in Jos.
“We have 50 in Barkin Ladi, over 200 in Salama Baptist Church in Mangu and 78 others that included 44 little children at Bwarak, Pankshin,” he said.
Mr Saleh explained that in the last week, the church spent over N3 million to cater for the needs of its displaced members taking refuge in its various local churches.
“Within one week, we have spent about N2 million to get relief materials, but this is not enough, and our Baptist partners assisted us with N1 million to make it N3 million. But it is still not enough. We provided foodstuffs, clothing, shoes, mats, blankets and other items,” he said.
Israel Akanji, the national president of the Nigeria Baptist Convention, who visited the displaced members, offered prayers and financial assistance to the victims of the attacks.
He called on government and security agencies to intensify efforts toward bringing succour to the victims and finding lasting solutions to the spate of killings in the state and nation at large.
(NAN)