Elusive Freedom as Leah Sharibu Marks Five Years in Captivity

In this report, Sunday Ehigiator writes that for five years, freedom has remained elusive for Leah Sharibu, the remaining Dapchi schoolgirl that was abducted by the Islamic State West Africa Province in 2018

For Leah Sharibu, the lone Dapchi schoolgirl that is still in captivity, freedom has remained elusive. 

Easily qualified as one of the most famous girls in the world, not by choice but happenstance, not very much is being said or heard about efforts to free Leah Sharibu from captivity anymore after over 1826 days in the den of her abductors.

As questions about if she was still alive or not continue abound, her whereabouts, physical condition, and mental state of health also remain unknown despite all promises made by this present administration to ensure her safe release and reintegration with  family and society.

As a statement of fact, Leah Sharibu, who is purpotedly now a mother of two while in captivity, circumstantially passed as the only remaining student abducted by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) from the 2018 Dapchi School kidnap who has not been released till date, and arguable the longest person ever held in captivity by kidnappers in Nigeria.

Leah Sharibu’s Abduction

To recap, the insurgency in the North-East region of Nigeria took on another dimension in 2018 when ISWAP insurgents stormed Government Girls Science Technical College, GGSTC, Dapchi, in Yobe State and abducted over 100 school girls.

Precisely, on February 19, 2018, at 5:30 pm, ISWAP attacked the school and abducted 110 girls, five of whom were reported killed in the abduction.

The abduction of the schoolgirls attracted global outrage and outcry and also revealed the rising level of insecurity in the land despite the yeoman efforts of the Armed Forces to curb the activities of terrorists.

The then-governor of Yobe State, Ibrahim Gaidam, had blamed the Joint Security Task Force for removing a military checkpoint shortly before the terrorists struck the school.

The incident of course reminded the nation of the abduction of the Chibok girls from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in southern Borno State in 2014.

At that time, the Goodluck Jonathan administration came under heavy criticism for failing to foil the kidnap of the girls and rescue them. This put the government in the spotlight of global infamy and the opposition latched on to this to describe the administration as incompetent and clueless.

Dapchi lies approximately 275 km northwest of Chibok, where over 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014.

Among other factors, the Chibok girl’s school kidnap formed the basis for which the opposition merger party, the All Progressive Congress (APC), took over power from the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), after being voted in by the people under the ‘Change’ mantra which they had promised Nigerians.

It is now over 84 months since President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration has been in power, and Nigeria’s security challenges have tripled while Leah Sharibu remains in captivity.

Held by Faith

On March 22, 2018, after one long month of captivity, ISWAP released 104 girls from the 110 students initially kidnapped from Dapchi, while holding on to only Leah Sharibu.

The other five girls remaining in the equation were those that were killed by the terrorist group the same day they were abducted.

According to one of the released girls, ISWAP reportedly kept Leah Sharibu because she refused to comply with their demands and convert to Islam.

After the release of the other girls, an audio believed to contain the voice of Leah Sharibu was purportedly released. In the 35 seconds audio, a young girl who introduced herself as Leah Sharibu said the following in the Hausa Language:

“I am Leah Sharibu, the girl that was abducted in GGSS Dapchi. I am calling on the government and people of goodwill to intervene to get me out of my current situation.

“I also plead to the members of the public to help my mother, my father, my younger brother and my relatives. Kindly help me out of my predicament. I am begging you to treat me with compassion, I am calling on the government, particularly, the president to pity me and get me out of this serious situation. Thank you.”

Threats to Enslave Leah Sharibu for Life

Following their demands (not made known to the public) not being met by the Federal Government (FG), the ISWAP threatened to kill Leah Sharibu.

The federal government had said it “will not relent in efforts to bring Leah Sharibu safely back home.”

In September 2018, ISWAP executed Saifura Ahmed, one of three humanitarian aid workers linked with the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC) they had abducted in March, threatening to do the same to the two others and Leah Sharibu.

In October 2018, ISWAP killed the second, Hauwa Mohammad Liman. Alice Loksha, the third aid worker and a nurse and a mother of two kids, abducted by Boko Haram during an attack in an IDP camp in Rann on March 1, 2018, remains in captivity.

ISWAP’s most recent threat has been to keep Leah Sharibu as a “slave for life.”

Buhari’s Failed Promise

On his part, President Muhammadu Buhari had promised to rescue Leah Sharibu, from captivity in 2019.

He made this pledge at the Grand Finale of the 2019 Nigerian Army Day Celebration and Combat Support Arms Training Week at Ikeja Cantonment Parade Ground, Lagos, represented by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.

President Buhari said, “The challenge for us is to recognise this sick extremism of Boko Haram for what it is and form alliances across faith, and ethnicities, to destroy an evil that confronts us all.

“We want to reassure the affected families and friends that this administration will not relent in its efforts to bring back all the remaining girls including Leah Sharibu, who has become a poster child for the heinous activities of Boko Haram insurgency.

“We will reunite them with their families and friends by the Grace of God.”

It is now four years after the promise was made, and Leah Sharibu, born on May 14, 2003, have now marked her 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, and most likely would mark her 19thbirthday in ISWAP captivity as freedom remains elusive. 

Parents Express Regrets

Expectedly, Leah Sharibu’s parents, Nathan, and Rebecca Sharibu have continued their call on the Federal Government, and President Muhammadu Buhari to fulfil his promise to secure their daughter’s freedom.

They regretted that, with a few days to the general elections, none of the presidential candidates had committed what to do to rescue her if elected president.

They, therefore, called on the candidates to show concern in their plight putting Leah Sharibu’s freedom as a top priority when any of them emerge as President

Speaking on behalf of the parents at a press conference organised in commemoration of Leah Sharibu’s five years in captivity intercession prayer, the spokesperson of the traumatised parents and President of Leah Foundation, Dr Gloria Puldu, said, “We are also demanding that the presidential candidates should make clear promises about what they would do to secure the release of Leah Sharibu who represents all those in captivity in the hands of Boko Haram. They have not committed to her freedom.

“We are expecting that we will collectively as a body of Christ petition heaven asking for the release of Leah as well as asking for a righteous leader to be voted into power that will not break promises he makes.

“Leah Sharibu will never be forgotten or forsaken. We call on all Christian women in Abuja to join us in prayers and to speak out on behalf of our girls.”

Paulda added that the Nigerian government had not done enough to free Leah and other Christian girls and women who experience sexual abuse and slavery in the various camps of Boko Haram in Nigeria.

“Most of these Christian girls and women, including a few Muslim girls, are held against their will. The international community needs to do more to free these girls and women. The trauma their parents and families go through is harrowing.”

Christian Leaders Intercedes

It was an emotion-filled day on Sunday, February 19, at the Church of Christ in Nations in Abuja during a special prayer session held to commemorate the fifth anniversary of Leah Sharibu’s captivity.

At the event, Christian leaders and members of Leah Sharibu’s family intensified their demands for the release of their abducted daughter.

At the event organised by Leah Foundation and Gideon and Funmi Para-Mallam Foundation, the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Daniel Okoh, in his keynote address said Leah’s story had become a metaphor for all those currently being held in captivity by Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in Nigeria.

Represented by the Founder of Gideon and Funmi Para-Mallam, Gideon Para-Mallam, Okoh said, “Once again, like we have done every year since 2018, we are marking the 5th anniversary of the continued detention of the young Dapchi girl, Leah Sharibu in Boko Haram captivity on the account of her faith.

“As a nation, we must arise and speak up against every form of injustice no matter who is involved. We must demand better from our leaders.

“We must speak out against injustice and for fairness until every Nigerian is free from oppression.

“I implore everyone to make good use of the opportunity  the forthcoming elections present to elect leaders who will not pay deaf ears to the cries of the common people.”

Quote 

We are also demanding that the presidential candidates should make clear promises about what they would do to secure the release of Leah Sharibu, who represents all those in captivity in the hands of Boko Haram. They have not committed to her freedom