‘Boko Haram killed over 8,370 Church members in North-East’
The Church of the Brethren in Nigeria, popularly known as Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria, EYN, says it has lost over,370 members to Boko Haram attacks in the Northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.
DAILY NIGERIAN reports that the church, headquartered in Adamawa, is the largest indigenous Christian denomination in the North-East.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday after the church held a conference in Yola the Adamawa State capital, the EYN President, Rev. Joel Billi said over 700,000 members were displaced.
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According to him, apart from the beheading of Lawan Andimi, the chairman the Christian Association of Nigeria in Michika, seven other pastors were also killed by the insurgents.
The Punch quoted the EYN President as saying: He said, “About 53 of the 60 District Church Councils of the EYN were directly affected by the insurgency, with 300 of the church’s 586 branches either burnt or damaged by Boko Haram.
“Uncountable number of houses of our members were either burnt or looted, leaving over 700,000 of those members displaced from their parish.”
Mr Billi added that many members had been abducted, and that 217 of the abducted 276 Chibok schoolgirls belonged to the EYN.
He, therefore, called on President Muhammadu Buhari and governors of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states to see to the rescue of the remaining Chibok girls, as well as Leah Sharibu, Alice Loksha and hundreds of other people abducted by Boko Haram.
