On Monday May 14, 2018, Miss Leah Sharibu marked her 15th birthday in captivity. A birthday that should have called for celebration became a sad reminder of her frightening fate.
As a religious leader, I support the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the national umbrella for all Christians in Nigeria, for tasking the federal government to live up to expectations by working for the immediate release of Leah and the remaining Chibok girls that are still pining away in captivity.
Expectedly, there is hope going by what the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed on behalf of the federal government said recently that, “Negotiations with insurgents are quite tortuous and complicated at times, but I can assure you we are not leaving her to her fate and those who should are daily busy working on her release.”
Leah Sharibu, at 15, a SSS 1 pupil from the Government Girls Science &Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, is a Christian and the only one among the 110 abducted on February 19 and not released on March 21, because she refused to denounce her Christian faith and profess Islam. She has shown uncommon spiritual maturity that all people of faith can learn from.
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As a prophet of God, I pray that God Almighty intervenes in her situation and cause her abductors to release her. I commend Leah’s courage and faith in God. Her decision not to denounce her relationship with God has shown to us that no matter what any Christian is passing through in life, they must not deny Christ. We must wait on the Lord. As the scriptures say, He that is in Leah is greater than he that is in the world.
I appeal to the insurgents to embrace the teachings of God and set Leah free, for, there is no compulsion in religion, and no one should be forced to renounce his or her religion in favour of another.
Apart from seeking freedom for Leah Sharibu, I enjoin the federal government to remember the remaining Chibok girls who are still in the captivity of the Boko Haram insurgents almost four years after their abduction.
Prophet Timothy
Abass Arabambi,
Ibadan
and then