The Christian Women on the Plateau for Peace and Security has taken the Free Leah Sharibu campaign to the Plateau State House of Assembly where it called for the release of the Dapchi teenage schoolgirl who has been held captive by Boko Haram since February 19, 2018.
Speaking at the assembly complex, the group’s general secretary, Mrs. Joy Machunga and a cleric, Mrs. Esther Ibanga, said: “As Christian women on the Plateau, we all gathered here today (yesterday) in unity and solidarity with Leah.”
“Our heartfelt anguish, sorrow and concern over the continued captivity and the current plight of our daughter and sister, a 14-year old Leah Sharibu, one of the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram insurgents on February 19, 2018 from Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi in Yobe State know no bounds.
“We share in her identity and it has become crystal clear that Christians in Nigeria, especially in the northern part, are increasingly becoming endangered species.
“We the Christian women on the Plateau wish to remind the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of his promise to Nigeria during his 2015 inauguration speech in which he said he belongs to nobody but belongs to everybody,” said the group.
It regretted that the sole offence for the continued captivity of the teenager was her refusal to renounce her Christian faith.
They also raised the alarm that over 50 communities in the state had been sacked with the victims dispossessed of their property by bandits.
The women also regretted that women and children had been rendered destitute, widows and orphans in a most traumatised fashion.
They appealed to government to set up a task force comprising credible government and civil society officials and women groups to resettle and rehabilitate the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the state.
Responding, the speaker of the house of assembly, Mr. Peter Azi, said the lawmakers shared in the group’s moment of grief, especially at a time that “our own daughter needs us most.”
He said Leah’s case was a testament that women are still endangered species and urged the federal government to secure the release of the teenager by all means.
