Baby Or No Baby, We Want Our Daughter Back – Leah Sharibu’s Family

We all remember Leah Sharibu, the very brave Christian girl who has been held in captivity for failure to denounce her faith after been kidnapped by Boko Haram insurgents over two years ago. While some of the other girls were released or rescued, some with babies, Leah Sharibu has remained in captivity.

She was abducted along over a hundred and fifty girls from Government Girls Secondary School, Dapchi and has become a symbol of Christian resistance in Nigeria and the world.

From time to time, news trickles in about her and the fact that she has continued to resist Islam, even in captivity and the fact that most Christians in Nigeria has used her as an icon, calling on the government, international agencies, the United Nations and anyone who cares to listen, that this is the fate of Nigerian Christians under the terror being unleashed by Boko Haram and President Buhari’s perceived complacency.

Well, latest news has it that Leah Sharibu has been forcefully converted, married off to a top Boko Haram commander and has given birth to a baby boy. This news has somewhat dampened spirits and people are expressing shock and surprise.

For me, I am neither shocked, surprised or disappointed. I expected it long ago. A young nubile girl, held captive and resisting indoctrination and conversion, the calls from people from all over the globe for her release and the fact that to Boko Haram, her price and value keeps going up…

For them, this is an act of subjugation. What other way to claim superiority and victory other than forcefully converting her and planting a baby in her belly?

Well, according to Dr Gloria Puldu of the Department of Political Science, University of Jos, who is also her family’s spokesperson, they are regarding it as a mere rumour and even if it were substantiated, they are more interested in bringing Leah home, baby or no baby.

Truth is, Nigeria as a whole, failed this girl and her family. No doubts about that. Leah’s family has gone through unimaginable pain and suffering, not to talk of the girl herself, having lived in captivity for over two years.

We want Leah back. We do not care if she has a baby or not.

God bless Leah Sharibu. God bless her family. We will overcome.