Pressure is mounting from across the globe on the Boko Haram to release a brave Nigerian schoolgirl held captive for refusing to renounce her Christian faith and convert to Islam.
Leah Sharibu was aged 14 when the Islamist terror group abducted 110 students from a girls’ boarding school in the northeastern state of Yobe in February last year.
Five students were killed while being held captive.
Some 104 of the girls were released four weeks after the abduction.
It is believed Sharibu is still held captive because of her refusal to renounce her Christian faith.
This is in defiance of orders by the Boko Haram.
Her bravery in the face of a terror group feared as the most lethal in the world has attracted international acclaim.
In a video released exactly a year ago, Boko Haram warned that Sharibu would be a slave for life.
“Based on our doctrines, it is now lawful for us to do whatever we want to do with her,” the group stated.
The 21 Wilberforce Alert is encouraging people to stand in solidarity with the teenage girl by participating in a global prayer vigil on Saturday.
Sharibu’s family and friends have sought the attention of the federal and local governments in Nigeria and traveled to the United States to plead with the government with hopes of prompting action, but to no avail.
The Boko Haram has killed more than 37 500 people in the past decade. Nearly 2 million Nigerians have been displaced.
Source: www.allafrica.com
