FG assures efforts to free Leah Sharibu, aid workers

THE Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has assured the families of kidnapped Dapchi schoolgirl Leah Sharibu and two abducted aid workers that the Federal Government will leave no stone unturned to secure their release.

The Minister gave the assurance on Friday when he led a three-member Federal Government delegation to Maiduguri in Borno State and Dapchi in Yobe State.

In Dapchi, the delegation, which also includes Hajiya Aisha Abubakar, the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, who also oversees Women Affairs, and the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Hajiya Khadija Abba Bukar Ibrahim, met with Mrs Rebecca Sharibu, Mother of Leah, as well as other members of their family at an emotion-laden ceremony.

Alhaji Mohammed said President Muhammadu Buhari sent the delegation as a follow-up to his phone call to Leah’s mother a few days ago, adding that the government will not rest until Leah has been reunited with her family.

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Visibly excited students of the Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, from where Leah and about 109 of her colleagues were abducted on 19 Feb. 2018, trooped out to welcome the delegation when the chopper that ferried them to Dapchi landed in the school premises.

Earlier, the delegation also met with the families of the three aid workers who were abducted in March 2018.

At the meeting, which was held in the Borno State Government House, Alhaji Mohammed reassured them of the Government’s efforts to secure the release of the two that remained in captivity, Alice Loksha and Amina Liman.

He also condoled with the parents of the third aid worker, Saifura Hussaini Ahmed, who was killed by her abductors last month.

The Minister said this is a trying time for the government and people of Borno State, but praised the government’s resilience in tackling the challenges arising from the Boko Haram insurgency.

The Deputy Governor of Borno, Alhaji Usman Durkwa, who received the delegation, expressed gratitude to President Buhari for sending the delegation to the state, saying this shows that the President is a
true leader.