Leah Sharibu Not Released Yet, Say Friends of Family

By Seriki Adinoyi in Jos

Friends of the Family of Leah Sharibu, one of the110 female students of Government Girls’ Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, have dismissed as false and misleading, media reports that Leah had been released.

The family friends, Reverend Gideon Para-Mallam, and Dr. Gloria Samdi Puldu separately refuted the report on Friday,  saying that contrary to claims that Leah had been released from the captivity of Boko Haram and was being kept somewhere in Jos, the girl was still being incarcerated.

Puldu, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political Science, University of Jos, and Para-Mallam, founder of Citizen Monitoring Group (CMG) said it was untrue that Leah had been released and now in the headquarters of Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), Jos.

Puldu said, “It’s not true, there is nothing like that; ignore them, it is all rumours, that is all. I think the speculation came into effect because of the assurance by President Muhammadu Buhari after he spoke with her mother that Leah Sharibu would be released soon. We should just keep praying that it becomes true.”

Para-Mallam in a statement also described the claim as “wild and misleading.”

He said, “It has come to our notice that some groups and individuals have been spreading the false news that Leah Sharibu has been released and currently in Jos. For the avoidance of doubt, I hereby wish to categorically state that Leah Sharibu has not yet been released. Our consistent hope and prayer is that she should be released as soon as possible.

“I’m issuing this statement as a very close friend of the Sharibu family who have been and is still in very close contact with them, that, as at this morning (8:00 am Friday, October 5 2018), these wild and misleading reports about her release are false and should be disregarded. Please let us continue to pray for Leah and her release, her family and Nigeria as a whole. Thank you and God bless.”

Leah is now seven months in cºaptivity after the abductors released the other students and kept her back by the reason of her Christian faith. Since then, her mother, Rebecca Sharibu and other well-wishers have vehemently called on the federal government to do everything to ensure that she was released.