So, Leah Sharibu is still held by those who abducted her on February 19. She was among 110 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists from the Government Girls Science and Technical College (GGGSTC), Dapchi, Yobe State.
Others abducted with her were set free on March 21. The presidency said they were released “unconditionally.” That can’t be true. Those who were released were Muslims. The only Christian among them was not released because she reportedly refused to renounce her faith and convert to Islam.
The insurgents reportedly brought their captives back to the town. Soldiers fighting the anti-terror war were said to have made a “tactical withdrawal” to make this happen. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, was quoted as saying: “What we have now is 105 girls and a boy; that makes it 106 persons released.” Sadly, five of the kidnapped girls reportedly died in captivity.
Leah’s mother, Mrs Rebecca Sharibu, said: “The released girls told us that the insurgents insisted that my daughter must renounce her religion. But she told them she had no knowledge of Islam and could not be a Muslim. She was then left out of the Dapchi trip. They told her that any day she accepts Islam, she will be released. Leah, we were told, was left behind with three Boko Haram women but she sent the message through her mates that we should pray for the will of God to be done in her life.”
But Leah’s fate should not be left to her fatalism. While the Federal Government is busy congratulating itself, and expecting to be congratulated, the authorities must keep Leah’s situation in focus and take steps to get her released without further delay. It is curious that she was left out of those qualified to be released in the first place. How did that happen? Why did those who negotiated the release of the schoolgirls allow the abductors to keep Leah? Why did they not insist on her unconditional release as well?
The Dapchi mass kidnapping compounded the still unresolved Chibok mass kidnapping in Borno State in April 2014. Many of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls are still in captivity.
Leah should not be an addition to the list of kidnapped schoolgirls who have not been brought back. Her case deserves urgent action; her time in captivity must not be allowed to stretch just because she stuck to her faith.