In an exclusive interview with SaharaReporters, Nathan Sheribu, called on the Nigerian government to do everything to secure Leah’s freedom like it did recently when it secured the release of the kidnapped 344 students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State.
Nathan Sharibu, father of Leah Sharibu, the only remaining student abducted by Boko Haram insurgents from the 2018 Dapchi school kidnapping who has not been released, has appealed to the Nigerian government to secure the release of his daughter.
Leah, who was 14 years old at the time she was kidnapped, will be spending her third Christmas this year in Boko Haram captivity if she is not released by Friday.
In an exclusive interview with SaharaReporters, Nathan Sheribu, called on the Nigerian government to do everything to secure Leah’s freedom like it did recently when it secured the release of the kidnapped 344 students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State.
He said, "We're pleading again, begging the authorities to help secure the release of my daughter. I believe it is possible because hundreds of schoolchildren were recently released in Katsina.
"We have been left in sorrow for almost three years now since Leah's abduction. I know they (the government) gave us many promises but my daughter is still in the jungle.
"I believe in God, I believe He (God) can perform miracles; that's why I still have hope that I will live to see my daughter return home to us.
"Yes, this is going to be her third Christmas since she was abducted in Dapchi, but we still have hope."[story_link align="left"]87645[/story_link]
On whether he thought she had accepted Islam and believed she truly mothered a child for a top Boko Haram commander, Leah's father, Mr. Sharibu, said, "All I'm saying is I'll live to see her return home to us some day, God willing."
Sadly, if nothing is done by the government to secure her freedom, it's almost certain that Leah Sharibu would be spending her third Christmas in Boko Haram captivity.
In February 2018, a total of 110 girls were originally kidnapped in Dapchi, Yobe State, but five did not survive the ordeal. Leah, a Christian, was not released along with others because she refused to convert to Islam.
Despite promises by the President Muhammadu Buhari regime to secure her release, Leah has remained with her captors and has been confirmed to have mothered a child for a top Boko Haram commander.
On June 19, 2020, SaharaReporters broke the news that the teenage girl was delivered of a baby boy.
Confirming SaharaReporters' story, Ahmed Salkida, a journalist with access to the terror group – Boko Haram – on Sunday, June 20, 2020, disclosed that indeed Leah Sharibu was now a mother.
Further confirming SaharaReporters’ story, Salkida in a post on Twitter, said, “Why, I wonder, do we pretend that leaving Leah behind won’t result in pregnancy?
“Since the terror group announced condemning her to slavery, is there any step or collective focus on preventing similar occurrences? She’s a mother, but I don’t know about the gender of the baby.”
A source had told SaharaReporters that the Christian teenager had given birth to a baby boy after being forced to convert to Islam and forcibly married to the unnamed Boko Haram commander.
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