The clergyman also urged all parents to use whatever influence they have to ensure that Leah Sharibu, as well as other children in captivity, are released.
The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has called for prayers for the release of Leah Sharibu, the Christian girl in captivity of the Boko Haram terrorists.
In a statement titled, "A Call for Release of Leah Sharibu," which he signed and issued on Friday, Adeboye directed all pastors in the RCCG all over the world to intensify their prayers for Sharibu’s release.
The clergyman also urged all parents to use whatever influence they have to ensure that Leah Sharibu, as well as other children in captivity, are released.
He said, “I, hereby again call and direct all pastors in the Redeemed Christian Church of God all over the world not to stop but to intensify their prayers for the release of Leah Sharibu.
“I also call on every parent, all over the world, to use whatever influence they have, to ensure that Leah Sharibu, as well as other children in captivity, are released. We shall not relent in our prayers.”
Adeboye's message comes exactly three years after Sharibu and 109 other schoolgirls of Government Girls' Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, were kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists. [story_link align="left"]77696[/story_link]
On March 21, 2018, the Nigerian government announced the release of 106 kidnapped children, which included 104 Dapchi schoolgirls.
The remaining two children released were said to be a girl who was not a pupil of the school and not kidnapped with them and a boy.
Five of the Dapchi schoolgirls were said to have died on the day they were kidnapped, leaving only Sharibu behind with the terrorists.
Sharibu's parents later said the group did not release their daughter because she refused to convert to Islam.
The Dapchi incident came about four years after 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped from a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State, the epicentre of the Boko Haram insurgency.
Similarly, 344 schoolboys were kidnapped on December 11, 2020, from Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State, and released six days later.
On Wednesday, 27 schoolboys along with some staff members and their relations were kidnapped from Government Science College, Kagara, Niger State.
One of the students was killed while the abductees have still not been released as of the time of filing this report.