The Nigerian Baptist Convention (NBC) has lamented and expressed serious grief over the abduction of 46 persons including some toddlers in Oriire Local Government area of Ikoyi Ile in Ogbomoso zone of Oyo State, calling for urgent intervention from all stakeholders.

This was just as the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State lamented the recent surge in the cases of kidnappings, murder, hoodlum attacks and other violent crimes in the state as against what was the situation in other five states in the South West, blaming the ugly development on Governor Seyi Makinde’s penchant for lip service, unhealthy politicking and showmanship.

According to a release signed by Rev. Ebenezer Durodola on behalf of the President, Rev Dr Israel Adelani Akanji, “The Nigerian Baptist “Convention has faced a series of attacks on our schools and churches across Nigeria with families and institutions being forced to pay huge ransom, just as they are the experiences of other churches and people in Nigeria.

A case in time was the abduction of 120 students and 1 Matron of the Bethel Baptist High School, Damishi, Kaduna on July 5, 2021. “The experience for both parents and the Church was horrifying.

Despite repeated calls and efforts to end these incessant abductions, killings, and destruction of churches and property, the situation continues to worsen rather than improve.

Nigerians, particularly the Church, are running out of patience and cannot continue to watch while lives and properties are being daily wasted.”

The body urged governments at all levels to urgently come together and find lasting solutions to these ugly, unsightly and malodorous incidents, saying, “This crisis requires coordinated and decisive action beyond mere statements.

Security agencies handling these issues must adopt a more robust, focused, modern and hard attack strategy to eliminate these evil elements from our society”.

In a statement on Friday, the APC Publicity Secretary in the state, Olawale Sadare, expressed regrets that Gov. Makinde seemed not to appreciate the fact that human life and freedom cannot be made a tool of politicking, saying that he has been caught shifting the blame on the federal government, while abdicating his own responsibility.

“We have said on several occasions that window dressing and populism cannot help in the building and sustaining security architecture.

The current administration started, on a bad note in 2019, with the disengagement of some critical stakeholders from the joint security activities in the state and up till the present moment, the traditional rulers and other relevant institutions are being left out while priority was on the purchase of pleasure cars, at exorbitant cost, for some security agencies.

He paid almost N8billions for the procurement of surveillance aircrafts but nothing has been seen since July, 2025 while bandits and other criminal elements torment residents of the state,” the party said.