- Abductors Reject Ransom Offered By Govt
Abductors of Leah Sharibu, the lone Dapchi schoolgirl still in Boko Haram captivity may likely be holding her back to stoke religious tensions in the country, a new revelation on the long running saga reportedly emerged over the weekend.
In a multi-religious country like Nigeria, issues around religion is often seen as a tinderbox and with this understanding, sources said the Haramists who aim to have their self-styled Islamic caliphate in the country, believe holding back Leah, a Christian will further inflame the country, causing a religious war, something that fits their monstrous narrative and agenda.
Of a fact, in close to two years now, her continuous detention has often resulted into a back-and-forth war of words between leaders of the Christian and Islamic faith — two religions with the largest adherents in the country.
It would be recalled that on February 19, 2018, 110 schoolgirls aged 11–19 years old were kidnapped by the Boko Haram terrorist group from the Government Girls’ Science and Technical College (GGSTC). Dapchi is located in Yunusari Local Government area of Yobe State, in the northeast part of Nigeria.
The Nigerian government had deployed the Nigerian Air Force and other security agencies to search for the missing schoolgirls and to hopefully enable their return and on 21 March 2018, 104 out of the 110 abducted girls were released. a total of 110 girls were originally kidnapped, but five did not survive the ordeal and Leah Sharibu is still being held over her resistance to not change from her Christian faith.
Contrary to claims that ransoms were not paid by the government to free Boko Haram abductees in the past, top government sources revealed that there has been attempt by the Federal Government acting through some third parties to pay a ransom in a bid to secure the release of Leah, but her abductors who had made the financial demand backed out when payment was offered.
According to one source, “while the FG remains strongly committed to securing the release of Leah and all other identified and unidentified abductees, by any means necessary, the terrorists chose much earlier after Leah’s abduction to use her to fan religious embers and cause devastating division in the country. And that was why the terrorists rejected the ransom government security agencies prepared to pay for Leah’s release.”
He said government was about to deliver the money when the terrorists who had made the request for a specific amount totalling several tonnes of millions of Naira in hard currency, changed their minds and rejected any ransom.
While the channels of communication between top security agents of the government, third parties and the terrorists at times take more than a month to complete one line of messages back and forth, the FG reached an agreement after such a long communication procedure only to be turned back after an agreement.
The sources further said part of the explanation given by the terrorists through the established third line communication channels with the government was that they would never accept a ransom on Leah because they hoped to use her abduction to stoke religious passion and possibly cause a religious war in the country if they could.
However, a source explained further that top presidential officials still encouraged FG officials to remain actively engaged with the channels of communication and the negotiators until a positive resolution is secured “because the President has set a firm target and resolve to ensure the freedom of Leah and others by any means necessary.”
