Deadline on Leah Sharibu: Religious leaders appeal to abductors

NAN

Religious leaders under the aegis of Interfaith Initiative for Peace (IIP) on Friday in Abuja appealed to the abductors of Leah Sharibu to release the girl and abandon their threat of executing her.

The leaders made the appeal on the sideline of a Peace conference organised by IIP towards the 2019 general elections.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports IIP is jointly founded by the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Saad Abubakar and the Catholic Arch Bishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan.

Speaking to newsmen on behalf of the group, the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Northern Nigeria, Rev. Yakubu Pam said the abductors should abandon their threat in order the save Sharibu’s family from the agony of losing a child in such a violent circumstance.

“We heard that they said next week is their deadline and that is why in this meeting, as we are discussing about the peace of this country, we felt that it is very important and very paramount to talk about this matter.

“The mother is in agony, the family is in agony and we are appealing to their conscience. Whatever it is, let them be lenient and also allow God to speak to their heart,” he said

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The cleric added: “We are here as religious leaders and traditional rulers to appeal to the conscience of the abductors of these innocent girl.

“I know too that the mother has also cried, the family members have cried to the abductors of this innocent girl as well as well meaning citizens of Nigeria have also cried.

“We want to appeal to them, to please, for the sake of God, release this innocent girl and by doing this, Nigeria will appreciate”.

Pam called on the government to do whatever it can within its powers to ensure the girl is safely released and reunited with her family.

He noted that the the leaders of the two major religions in Nigeria, Christianity and Islam, as well as traditional rulers were attending the conference to discuss peace ahead of the 2019 general elections.

Speaking in the same vein, the Chief Imam of Apo Legislative Quarters’ Mosque in Abuja, Sheikh Mohmamed Khalid appealed to the abductors to have a rethink and revisit their minds on the abducted girl.

He noted that the abductors of Sharibu were on their own and they did not represent Islam.

“We are here to speak on behalf of the bodies of the two main religions, Islam and Christianity.

“We want the world to understand that these people that are holding our children and other people in captivity are not representing anything, they are on their own.

“Islam is not asking them to abduct anybody and we the Muslims are going to join hands with anybody to do anything possible to secure Nigerians from their agony”.

He stressed that the abductors of Sharibu had no basis to hold her captive since her colleagues whom they were abducted together were released.

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NAN recalled that the mother of Sharibu, the only one of the kidnapped Dapchi girls who remained in captivity, had appealed to her abductors to be compassionate and release her daughter unharmed.

She made the appeal on Thursday in an interview monitored on the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA).

Boko Haram abducted Leah Sharibu and 109 other girls from their school in Dapchi on February 19, 2018.

While most of the girls have been released, Leah has remained in captivity, and her abductors have threatened to kill her.

Similarly, the family of two of the three female aid workers who were abducted in March 2018 had pleaded for the release of the women.

Alice Loksha was working with ICRC in Rann, Kalabalge, when she was abducted, while Amina Liman was working with UNICEF also in Rann when she was kidnapped by Boko Haram.

Also in an interview monitored on NTA on Thursday, Gideon Loksha the younger brother of Alice, pleaded for the release of his sister.

In a separate interview, Yiakachi Liman, the mother of Amina, made a passionate plea for her release

The third abducted lady, Saifura Hussaini Ahmed, was killed by her abductors last month