Rev. Daniel Mbaya of Ekklisiyar Yan’uwa ‘A’ Church of The Brethren in Nigeria, Utako, Abuja on Sunday said that 50 of their churches had been burnt and 109 members killed in the Northern part of the country by the Islamist sect, Boko Haram.
Mbaya made this known yesterday in his sermon during the last Sunday of the year service of the church, which was attended by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and other prominent Nigerians.
Speaking on the topic, “Working with God,” the preacher while reading from the book of Genesis 5: 22-24 called on the need for Nigerians especially its leaders to work with God in truth and righteousness just like Enoch; the father of Methuselah.
He said, “Our church which, is predominantly in the North-East is worst hit by the Boko Haram insurgence. About 50 of our churches have been burnt and 109 of our members killed in the North by Boko Haram.”
The cleric said Jonathan’s visit to the church would restore the lost confidence of its members nationwide, noting that his visit shows that Nigeria was “blessed with a caring, loving and concerned leader”.
In his speech, Jonathan assured that the Boko Haram sect would not succeed in 2013, noting that the strategic security plans put in place were already yielding positive results.
“Boko Haram will not push us backwards. If their plan is to stop government from providing dividends of democracy, they would not succeed, because 2013 will be a good year for Nigerians and Nigeria.”
Jonathan revealed that the sect had the intention of attacking churches on Christmas day, but the plans were truncated by the security agencies.
His words, “The Boko Haram planned to carry out a lot of attacks on Christmas day, but we suppressed their plans during the Christmas, because the extent of their plans was not executed as a result of the strategies by the security agencies.
While commending members of the church for maintaining peace and order, in spite of Boko Haram’s attacks on their branches, the president promised that 2013 would be a good year for Nigerians.
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