The Dapchi schoolgirl who Boko Haram refused to release alongside her 104 kidnapped colleagues for not renouncing her Christianity is being hailed as a hero by the Nigerian Christian community. Prayers have been called for today by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for Leah Sharibu’s release. CAN National President, Rev. Samson Olasupo Ayokunle, while announcing the prayers, lamented what he described as feeble attempts made by the Federal Government to secure the release of the 15-year-old girl, saying the development confirmed the fear in some quarters that Christians in Nigeria were endangered.
A faction of Boko Haram terror group had, in February, kidnapped Leah and 109 other girls as well as one boy from Government Secondary Girls, Daphi, Yobe State. Last Wednesday, when the group returned 104 of the girls to Dapchi after about one month in captivity, six others were not among them. Whereas five of the girls reportedly died while the captors were taking them to their Sambisa forest hideout, Leah’s refusal to renounce Christianity and accept Islam was adduced as the reason the Boko Haram faction decided to keep her.