The NKST Church has urged the Federal Government to intensify efforts to secure the release of 15-year-old Leah Sheribu, one of the girls kidnapped at the Government Secondary School, Dapchi, Yobe State.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that more than 100 girls from the school were kidnapped by unknown gunmen, suspected to be members of the Boko Haram religious sect, in February 2018.

The girls had since been released with Leah Sehribu the only one still being held hostage.

Worried by this, NKST, at its annual Synod held in Makurdi, urged government to intensify efforts to secure her release in view of the nationwide anxiety over her continued stay in the hands of the captors.

The Church, in a communique made available to NAN, also advised governments at all levels to provide extra security in schools to forestall invasions by bandits.

It also endorsed the Anti-open Grazing Law enacted by Benue, Taraba and Ekiti States, and advised other states to do same so as to curb the persistent clashes between farmers and herdsmen.

It criticised plans by the Nasarawa State Government to establish cattle colonies, claiming that areas already earmarked for the activity were ancestral lands of Tiv people.

The Church urged its members to uphold the tenets of Christianity and be sincere in their dealings with their neighbours.

It also advised the Federal Government to handle the recovered Abacha loot with utmost transparently to ensure that funds voted to be disbursed to the poor were not looted by government officials.

The communique, which was signed by NKST President, Rev. Dominic Anza, cautioned those in government against using public funds to finance political activities, saying that God’s wrath would descend on anyone involved in that.

It advised Christians to register so as to vote in 2019, and cautioned them against selling their Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC), or selling their votes on election days.

“The only way to kick out a failed government is to get your PVC. We should not toy with that privilege,” he said.