Leah Sharibu: Pleads from Captivity
BY TAIWO FAROTIMI
The federal government has said that it is aware of the audio recording in which Leah Sharibu, the Dapchi girl left behind with Boko Haram. Malam Garba Shehu, senior special assistant on media and publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari said on his tweeter handle that the secret service is investigating the tape.
The tape which was exclusively released by The Cable, an online newspaper has Leah making appeals to the government, the president and the general public to have pity on her. Shehu stated, “The secret service is analyzing the voice. Our reaction will follow the outcome of the investigation. For President Buhari, nothing will be spared in bringing all our girls home.
He will not rest until all of them are freed.”
Leah was the only one left behind among the Dapchi girls kidnapped in February by a faction of Boko Haram, the insurgent group that has been on rampage in the North eastern part of Nigeria for some years now. She was not released with her friends and colleagues because being the only Christian she refused to denounce her faith.
Since the release of the other girls , the government had promised to intensify efforts to get the 15-year old girl out of captivity. Her parents and different organizations, local and international, have also appealed to the authorities to also press for her release.
In the tape that will not only confirm that she is alive but also give pep to efforts to put pressure on her captors, she said, in Hausa,
“I am Leah Sharibu, the girl that was abducted in GGSS Dapchi. I am calling on the government, particularly, the President to pity me and get me out of this serious situation.”
“I also plead to the members of the public to help my mother, my father, my younger brother and relatives. Kindly help me out of my predicament. I am calling on the government and people of goodwill to intervene to get me out of my current situation. I am begging you to treat me with compassion.”
