Leah was the only Christian girl among the 112 kidnapped from their school — Girls Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe state — by Boko Haram members
While the others were later brought home, Sharibu was held back for reportedly refusing to denounce Christianity and has remained in captivity ever since.
Nigerian activists Tuesday staged a rally to mark the 16th birthday of a girl, Leah Sharibu, who was abducted by Boko Haram 449 days ago.
Relatives of schoolgirl, Leah Sharibu abducted by Boko Haram Islamists cut cake to mark her 16th birthday and two years in captivity at the Unity Fountain in Abuja, on May 14, 2019. Leah Sharibu was among over 100 schoolgirls abducted from the Government Girls Secondary School in Dapchi, northeast Nigeria on February 19, 2018. But while schoolmates had been freed, she was held back for refusing to denounce her religion.
Leah Sharibu is the only girl still in captivity following the abduction of more than 100 female students on February 19, 2018, from a secondary school in the northeast state of Yobe. Almost all were released after about a month after negotiations with the Nigerian government, but Sharibu was not, allegedly because she refused to renounce her Christian faith. Charity groups, most of which are affiliated with churches, organised the rally to mark her 16th birthday and press the government to work harder for her release. Dozens of activists staged their march at the Unity Fountains in Abuja’s Central District.
Their aim was to “remember Leah in prayer and also to engage in a peaceful march to ask for her release,” the rally coordinator, Reverend Gideon Para-Mallam, told AFP. On her second birthday in captivity, “Leah is presently voiceless but her courageous action of faith speaks for her,” Para-Mallam said. A music video titled “I will not deny Jesus” was released as a tribute to Sharibu, he added .Leah’s parents tearfully expect a miracle The cleric hopes that President Muhammadu Buhari can win the girl’s freedom as he prepares to begin his second term on May 29.
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