By Martins Oloja
I wanted to stay away from the reproach and challenge of Citizen Leah Sharibu after last week’s piece as there other matters of urgent national and international importance but my conscience would not let me. I had planned stir the conscience of the nation on what of the Dangote refinery hadn’t been built at this time, what would have happened to us as the US-Israeli war on Iran had affected the global supply chains? Coincidentally, in an article here on this same Leah’s 21st birthday in 2023 titled: ‘Leah Sharibu: 21 Jeers To Hope Deferred’, I wrote on the same Dangote’s refinery I would also have written about that week: “…It is getting curiouser and curiouser as in Alice in Wonderland that Dangote has been exporting crude oil from a far country, the United States while Nigeria exports same product.
I had then also wanted to ask some questions on the whereabouts of the famous Lagos-centric competence of the candidate BAT that was advertised to Nigerians before the 2023 elections. For that week, I had also considered writing on the danger of imminent civil disobedience that the prevalent economic crisis then might trigger as there was then some fire on the mountain in Abuja and nobody seemed to be on the run. I had done some sketches on the aforementioned ruminations before the 21st birthday of Leah Sharibu hit me like a thunderbolt! I had then considered marking the birthday of Citizen Leah a more significant and weightier matter of hope deferred in a season of anomie in 2023.
And so before we shout 24th hearty cheers to a jihadist captive on May 14, 2026, I would like to reiterate my appeal to the Nigerian government and the international community to end their unfathomable and strange silence and help secure the young lady’s release.
Besides, the grieving family of Leah has also renewed their appeal to the authorities in Nigeria on their missing daughter. Eight years after her abduction in Dapchi, Leah’s parents have renewed calls for urgent government action to secure her release.
The parents have lamented that Leah has endured forced marriage, multiple childbirths and continued suffering in captivity.
They called on the administration of President Bola Tinubu to take immediate and decisive steps to locate and rescue Leah, urging the international community to intensify support and pressure to secure her freedom.
In a statement issued on the eight anniversary of her abduction by the spokesperson for Leah’s parents and President of the LEAH Foundation, Dr. Gloria Samdi Puldu, the family renewed its appeal as Leah marks eight years in captivity. Leah was 14 years old when she was abducted from the Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, on February 19, 2018. While most of the schoolgirls were later released, Leah was reportedly held back after she refused to renounce her Christian faith.The statement noted that February 19, 2026, marks a painful milestone for the family. “As Leah enters her ninth year in unimaginable hardship, she is reported to have endured forced marriage, multiple childbirths, and ongoing suffering,” the Foundation said, citing accounts from some girls who were rescued or escaped captivity and reportedly confirmed that she is still alive.
The Foundation described her continued detention as a matter of “national urgency and moral imperative,” stressing that her prolonged captivity highlights the broader security challenges facing the country, particularly the abduction and exploitation of women and girls by terrorist groups. Leah’s mother, Rebecca Sharibu, was said to have endured years of grief and uncertainty, holding onto hope for her daughter’s safe return.
The LEAH Foundation announced plans to host a virtual global prayer session to mark the anniversary, themed “From Glory to Glory, Eight Years … One Faithful God,” calling on people of faith worldwide to pray for Leah’s release and for other girls and women still in captivity.
Peace advocate Gideon Para-Mallam also urged the Nigerian government to intensify efforts to rescue Leah and other abducted girls, stressing the need for stronger action against ongoing killings and kidnappings across the country. The Foundation called on global leaders, human rights organisations and faith communities to amplify advocacy efforts and hold relevant authorities accountable until Leah is reunited with her family. After eight years, the family said, Leah’s resilience should be met with concrete action to secure her freedom.
In 2024, the same Nigerian Christian minister, Dr Gideon Para-Mallam, president of Gideon and Funmi Para-Mallam of Peace Foundation, wrote in a statement sent to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN): “It is extremely disappointing and heart-breaking that six years on we are still talking about Leah in captivity. Leah ought to have been released by now but here we are.” Reverend Para-Mallam added: “In a sense, one must really ask, is the whole nation of Nigeria not in captivity?” He explained: “Leah was kidnapped along with 110 other schoolgirls from the Dapchi Girls Secondary School in Yobe State on 19 February 2018, by Boko Haram’s ISWAP [Islamic State’s West Africa Province] faction… About one month later, all the girls were released through negotiations with the Islamic terrorist group, by Nigeria’s Federal government. All were released but not Leah Sharibu. Why?” He added: “All the kidnapped girls were converted to Islam but 14-year-old Christian girl Leah Sharibu chose not to convert but remained faithful to her Christian belief. Her freedom of religion and belief was violated and today she is still in captivity because of her Christian faith.”
Reverend Para-Mallam highlighted that Ms Sharibu herself “appealed to the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Christian Association of Nigeria to act to rescue her” in a video released six months into her captivity. He went on to call for prayers “that one day Leah will come out of Boko Haram’s captivity”, together with “several other Christian girls”, as well as “Muslims still in captivity against their will”. The pastor stressed: “Nigerians need to unite across faiths to raise their voices in advocacy to free Leah and others in captivity. We are in this together. Persecution to one is persecution to all.” He added: “The Church in Nigeria prays and wishes to encourage the global Church to remember Leah and act in their nations by any means possible to get their governments to reach out to the Nigerian government through diplomatic circles, to see that Leah is set free along with several Christian girls who are forced to convert to Islam and married off as sex slaves to Boko Haram commanders, fighters and other top officials.”
“The last bit of news about Leah Sharibu was back in 2023. Let me ask that we keep hope alive and continue to pray that one day, Leah will come out of Boko Haram’s captivity”, he said in an interview with ACN.
In February 2020, mother of Leah, Mrs. Rebecca Sharibu, raised concerns on the commitment of the federal government to secure the release of her daughter from Boko Haram terrorists. Mrs. Sharibu, who spoke in an interview with the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in London, noted then that she had serious doubts on the willingness of the government to secure the release of her daughter.
As I was saying, The Guardian (Nigeria) had in the same 2018 manifested Citizen Leah as its “Person of the Year”.
Let’s recall vividly that Leah had in a clear audio message in 2018 begged President Buhari Muhammadu Buhari as a father to come to her rescue. However, the government said the clip would be verified to be sure that it was Leah’s voice. And so on Wednesday, October 3, 2018, Buhari reportedly consoled Leah’s biological family and assured her parents that the Federal Government would do its utmost for the safety and security of Leah. The president was quoted as telling Mrs Sharibu: “I convey my emotion, the strong commitment of my administration and the solidarity of all Nigerians to you and your family as we will do our best to bring your daughter home in peace and safety.”
As it was recalled here the other day, despite Buhari’s assurance to the mother of Leah, the albatross still hangs on the neck of Abuja as the girl who is said to have given birth to two babies in captivity is still being held in an unknown forest. As I was also saying, on so many occasions, notably at the quarterly security briefings at the National Intelligence Agency (NIA headquarters, Abuja I had raised the grave implications of continued silence of the state actors on “the safety and whereabouts of the only Christian girl on the Dapchi 2018 tragedy”.
This is also worth recalling: barely a week after the appointment of Malam Nuhu Ribadu as the National Security Adviser (NSA) in June, 2023, in a chance meeting with Media executives in Lagos, I also raised the thorny issue of the Leah Sharibu challenge to the security and intelligence agencies in Nigeria. The NSA who also hails from Adamawa state, promised to deal with the reproach as quickly as possible.
Again, till the present, there has been no update from the NSA’s office on the plight of the unlucky girl. It is incredibly reproachful that Nigeria’s “goddess of resistance to terror” is still being held hostage.
As I had noted here last week, this ugly reality is a monumental embarrassment, because the ‘‘child’’ Leah had even cried out to her ‘‘father’’ of the nation then, President Buhari to rescue her. And so our leader, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should note today that the story of Leah Sharibu’s capture and her continued detention by Boko Haram insurgents as a result of her refusal to renounce her faith is a national tragedy that won’t fizzle out until the girl is released. Leah’s defiance echoes a bright message of love, selflessness, courage and hope to our nation. The goddess of resistance to terror, should be treated anywhere as the number one soldier on the frontline in defence of Nigeria’s now fragile unity, peace and progress. She is a true heroine who should have been nominated for Nobel Peace Prize.
That is why I would like to appeal to our First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, who has been acknowledged as a respected woman of faith by even the United States President, Hurricane Donald Trump, to step into the Leah Sharibu’s reproach to the nation. In the same vein, the Women Affairs Minister, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim the Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, unarguably Leah’s most prominent father in Adamawa, and the National Security Adviser, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, another very significant citizen of Adamawa should work with the very influential First Lady to ensure that this administration celebrates very soon the return of Citizen Leah Sharibu and other missing girls. Doubtless, if they achieve this unthinkable, the Christian Communities worldwide would join Nigeria in hailing this administration for their commitment to peace building and reconciliation in Nigeria.
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