File photo: Leah Sharibu. The whereabouts and condition of Leah Sharibu, one of the Dapchi schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram insurgents in 2018 in Yobe State, will be among the issues discussed at a prayer session organized by the Leah Foundation and Para‑Mallam Peace Foundation Advocate for Social Justice in Abuja today. Leah, now a mother, has spent five years in Boko Haram captivity. Her parents, Nathan and Rebecca Sharibu, have continued to call on the Federal Government, led by President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to fulfill its promise and secure their daughter’s freedom. They lamented that, with a week to the general elections, none of the presidential candidates had pledged a concrete plan to rescue her.
Among those expected at the prayer session to commemorate Leah’s fifth anniversary in captivity are her parents, the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Archbishop Daniel Okoh, who will deliver the keynote address, the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja Diocese, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, and a representative of the Presidency. Leah was one of the 110 female pupils of the Government Girls’ Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, abducted on February 19, 2018, by Boko Haram terrorists. While many were released after negotiations, Leah, then 14, remains captive because she refused to renounce her Christian faith.
Dr. Gloria Puldu, spokesperson for the traumatised parents and President of the Leah Foundation, said, “We are inviting the Christian community in Abuja to join us to mark the day Leah Sharibu turns five years in the hands of ISWAP Boko Haram. We are also demanding that the presidential candidates make clear promises about what they will do to secure Leah’s release, as she represents all those held captive by Boko Haram. They have not committed to her freedom. We expect that, as a body of Christ, we will collectively petition heaven for Leah’s release and for a righteous leader to be elected who will keep his promises. Leah Sharibu will never be forgotten nor forsaken. We call on all Christian women in Abuja to join us in prayer and to speak out on behalf of our girls.”
Para‑Mallam added that the Nigerian government has not done enough to free Leah and other Christian girls and women who suffer sexual abuse and slavery in Boko Haram camps. He noted, “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 them. The trauma their parents and families endure is harrowing.”
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