World Watch Monitor | Oct. 4, 2018
The mother of the Christian girl detained by Boko Haram for over seven months has called on Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari to secure her daughter’s release.
Leah Sharibu, 15, was one of 110 girls kidnapped on 19 February 2018 from a school in Nigeria’s north-eastern town of Dapchi, in Yobe state.
Within a month, all the others had been released, but not Leah – the only Christian – as she refused to renounce her faith.
On 16 September, Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP), a breakaway faction of Boko Haram, announced that it had killed a Red Cross worker, Saifura Hussaini Ahmed Khorsa, and threatened to kill three other hostages, including Leah.
Her mother, Rebecca, travelled to Jos, capital of Plateau state, over the weekend.
At a press conference on 29 September, she recalled that Leah’s kidnappers had issued an ultimatum stating that Leah was next in line to be killed:
“As we are approaching October, on Monday, I am pleading with the federal government, and the president, to hear my plea and the plea of Leah’s dad, to secure the release of our daughter,” she said.
She also denied reports alleging that she had filed a lawsuit against the Nigerian government, demanding N500m (more than $1m) in compensation for her daughter’s kidnap.