Punch | Godwin Isenyo | April 12, 2020
Christian elders from the North on Saturday, asked the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) to take the advantage of the pressure mounted on the Boko Haram insurgents by the Chadian army, to facilitate the rescue of Leah Sharibu being held hostage by the insurgents.
Leah Sharibu and over 100 female students of the Government Girls’ Science and Technical College, Dapchi in Yobe State were kidnapped by the Boko Haram insurgents in 2018.
The insurgents released all the girls except Leah Sharibu who is still being held on the account of being a Christian.
Apparently referring to a recent decimation of the terrorists by the Chadian army led by the President, Idriss Deby, the Christian elders urged Buhari to release Sharibu and the remaining Chibok girls.
In an Easter goodwill message on Saturday and signed by its Chairman, Mr Ejoga Inalegwu, the Christian elders on the platform of the Northern Elders Christian Forum, said, “We continue to appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari to take advantage of the pressure under which Boko Haram is now, and facilitate the release of Leah Sharibu and the remaining Chibok girls still in their custody.”
On the COVID-19 pandemic, NOSCEF lamented that Christians might not celebrate the Easter as a result of the lockdown imposed on the states to prevent the spread of the virus.
The group noted that notwithstanding, it had reached out to Christians in 17 states of the North with a token of bags of rice worth N3.4m to enable them celebrate the Easter.
The group also expressed anger over the deplorable state of health across the country prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, blaming the Nigerian elite for the negligence of the sector.
The statement read, “This is indeed a time for deep reflection because this Easter came at a time the world is facing a calamity, brought about by the deadly coronavirus pandemic that is ravaging the world.