President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday reiterated his administration’s commitment to secure the freedom of all children and other victims of abduction by terrorists in the country.
This was contained in a statement signed personally by the president on the eve of the second anniversary of Dapchi Girls’ abduction.
This is coming amid heightening anxiety over the present status of Leah Sharibu, one of the abducted Dapchi girls, and other Chibok girls still in the shackles of Boko Haram insurgents.
The Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, recently intensified his threats even against the president and the minister of communication technology, Isa Pantami.
Shekau had in a widely publicised video vowed to kill Pantami over his plans to restrict telephone SIMs to three per person.
He also threatened the president to avoid further visits to the North East, claiming “Boko Haram is in control of the region”.
But President Buhari in the message marking two years of adoption of the Dapchi girls vowed to rescue the only Christian girl left behind, Leah Sharibu, and the remaining Chibok girls.
“Two years ago, 110 innocent children from the town of Dapchi were taken, against their will, by the terrorists of Boko Haram. 107 survived the ordeal. Today all but one – Leah Sharibu – are returned to their families,” Buhari said.
“Now aged 16, Leah remains in the hands of the terrorists – they say because she refuses to renounce her Christian faith. We say, as the government for and of all Nigerians, that no person has the right to force another to change their faith against their will and that all life is sacred,” he said.
Buhari said his government continues and seeks to secure the release of all children and captives of terrorists – “and we do so regardless of their creed or the name of their creator”.
“As we redouble our efforts for Leah’s return, we can never allow the terrorists to divide us – Christian against Muslim, Muslim against Christian. We are all Sons of Abraham. And all Nigerians have the same worth and rights before the law, and before God,” Buhari said.
There are fears that Leah Sharibu may have been forced to convert to Islam, while reports indicate that she gave birth to a baby boy for one of the leaders of the Islamic terrorists.
There have been unconfirmed reports that the Chibok schoolgirls who were kidnapped in 2014 have been married out to the terrorists.
But President Buhari, who made similar pledge at a High Level Breakfast Dialogue in Ethiopia titled ‘Stop the War on Children Affected by Armed Conflicts, Dividend of Silencing the Guns’, a side event during the 33rd AU Summit, assured that his government “will not relent until every child, boy, or girl, every Nigerian adult in custody of Boko Haram, is freed”.
A number of schoolgirls from Chibok and Dapchi earlier abducted by Boko Haram have regained their freedom.
The president commended the gallant efforts of the Multi National Joint Task Force and the partners in supporting the reintegration of the girls.
”Let me categorically reassure you of the steadfast commitment of the Government of Nigeria to ensure the freedom of all kidnapped children from the shackles of Boko Haram,” he said.
TONY AILEMEN, Abuja
