Remembering Leah Sharibu

On Monday May 14, Leah Sharibu, the only remaining kidnapped teenager from Dapchi still in captivity, turned 15 in the custody of her captors despite repeated promises of the president and top security agents to secure her release.

On February 19, the Islamic terrorist organisation, Boko Haram, dressed in military fatigues and armed with sophisticated weapons, invaded Dapchi and went straight to the Government Girls Science Technical College where they kidnapped 110 students of the school. Amnesty International’s Nigeria Office stated in a report of March 19 that the military failed to respond when it was alerted to a convoy of Boko Haram heading towards Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State, in the afternoon of February 19. It said testimonies from credible sources indicated that the army and the police received multiple emergency calls up to four hours before the attackers reached Dapchi, but did not respond. “Evidence available to Amnesty International suggests that there are insufficient troops deployed in the area and that an absence of patrols and the failure to respond to warnings and engage with Boko Haram contributed to this tragedy, said Osai Ojigho, head of Amnesty International in Nigeria.

Regardless, on Wednesday, 21 March, following what the Director-General of the Department of State Security, DSS, described as a series of “behind-the-scene discussions,” Boko Haram drove back into Dapchi again in a convoy and returned 105 of the 110 girls abducted from the town. Four of the girls are said to have died during their abduction and one – Leah Sharibu – was left behind for refusing to denounce her Christian faith in favour of Islam. The terrorists even had time to preach and parade round Dapchi before their exit to loud cheers from the local community. They were even said to have apologised for taking the girls saying they would not have taken the girls if they realised they were Muslim girls!

Amidst celebration by the presidency, a statement was released to convey the pledge of president Buhari to ensure that “the lone girl is not abandoned”.

“The Buhari administration will not relent in efforts to bring Leah Sharibu safely back home to her parents as it has done for the other girls…President Buhari is fully conscious of his duty under the Constitution to protect all Nigerians, irrespective of faith, ethnic background or geopolitical location and will not shirk in this responsibility, the statement signed by Garba Shehu, said.

In fact, three days later the Inspector General of Police said Miss Sharibu will be released in a matter of hours.

However, 58 days after and 88 days after her abduction, there has not been any word on Miss Sharibu neither have the security agencies succeeded in rescuing her as promised by the presidency. Rather it appears the presidency and the country has moved on and has forgotten about the girl. This is sad and deplorable!

It was a great error and a big blunder, in the first instance, for the government to agree to leave out Miss Sharibu in the negotiations that secured the release of the 105 girls. In a religiously sensitive country like Nigeria – or even in normal climes, it is something no government should do. It reflected very badly on the image of the government and its ability to manage Nigeria’s diverse religious and ethnic differences. We may even accept the views of the Catholic Secretariat which described Miss Sharibu’s continued detention by the terrorist sect as a demonstration of increased hostilities against the Christian religion in Nigeria.

We commend the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement that have continued to put her issue and those of the other abducted Chibok girls in the front burner and for always demanding for their release. We also commend good-spirited Nigerians for celebrating Miss Sharibu’s birthday on social media and using the opportunity to remind the government of its promise to rescue her. We encourage them and many other Civil Society and religious groups to continue to put pressure on the government to live up to its promise to bring back the girl and the over hundred Chibok girls still in captivity.