Boko Haram Kills Another Aid Worker

From Olawale Ajimotokan, Kasim Sumaina in Abuja

* FG expresses sadness

Boko Haram has executed Hauwa Amina Liman, one of the two aide workers with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Federal Government has confirmed.

In a statement issued in London on Monday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the Federal Government was shocked and saddened at the killing of another aid worker by the terror group despite the actions taken by government and the widespread appeal to save the young woman.

Liman and Alice Loksha were abducted by Boko Haram on March 1 during an attack on Rann, on Nigeria’s far north-eastern border.

They were in captivity alongside I5- year- old- schoolgirl, Leah Sharibu, who was kidnapped in Dapchi on February 19, 2018 with about 108 other students.

The group held Sharibu when other 104 students were freed in March for her refusal to convert to Islam.

The killing of Liman by the terrorist group was the second execution of the aide workers, following the killing of Saifura Hussaini Ahmed by her abductors last month.

Monday’s killing was carried out following the failure of federal government to meet some of the demands by Boko Haram by the deadline which elapsed Monday.

Mohammed described the killing as dastardly, inhuman and ungodly, saying nothing can justify the shedding of the blood of innocent people.

He commiserated with the family of the aid worker, and said the Federal Government did all within its powers to save her life.

”It is very unfortunate that it has come to this. Before and after the deadline issued by her abductors, the Federal Government did

everything any responsible government should do to save the aid worker.

”As we have been doing since these young women were abducted, we kept

the line of negotiations open all through. In all the negotiations, we acted in the best interest of the women and the country as a whole.

”We are deeply pained by this killing, just like we were by the recent killing of the first aid worker. However, we will keep the negotiations open and continue to work to free the innocent women who remain in the custody of their abductors,” the minister said.

He thanked all the friendly governments that had continued to work with Nigeria for the safe release of the abducted women, and the clerics across religious lines who had been pleading for their release.

Also reacting to the development, the Chairperson of Bring Back Our Girls, Edith Yassin, chided the federal government for waiting for the deadline before trying to rescue Sharibu and two other captive aid workers, Loksha and Liman by Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram.

“Well, we don’t have much to say, except that we have expected that Leah Sharibu and all those in Boko Haram captivity should have been freed and be back by now. We should not wait for the deadline. Seriously, I don’t think that it is okay that we are waiting for deadline before anything happens. And even now that the deadline is here, nothing has happened anyway. There is nothing positive coming from the government. They haven’t told us whether there is negotiations going, there is rescue or release. We don’t know anything. It’s a silence,” Yassin said.

She vowed that BBOG would assemble tomorrow at Unity Fountain and march to the Presidential Villa as the federal government had kept mute after the deadline.

When asked if Leah Sharibu was a Muslim, whether the government wouldn’t have rescued her by now, Yassin responded: “I don’t think so. I mean, the Dapchi girls, they took over 100 girls. I don’t think so, there is no religion colouration to it. Boko Haram has taken Muslim girls, they have taken Christian girls. I refuse to give it any religion colouration. All I know is that, young girls get taken, they get raped, they are living with their captives and government is just not doing enough to bring them back”.