LEAH SHARIBU: THE FACE OF NIGERIA'S NEAR FAILED STATE
This is the fourth year of Leah Sharibu's captivity by the terror agents
Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari together with his administration officials notably, his Minister for Information, Lai Mohammed are having the fight of their lives denying that the state of Nigeria over which they superintend has virtually failed.
Essentially, young and pretty schoolgirl, Leah Sharibu is the face of this failure. Nigerians from the North, from which the president hail and which he tries to pander to by all means, to the South, which is groaning almost unbearably under the burden of a nepotistic and tribalistic administration are hard to be persuaded. The economy is comatose, prices of goods in the market shoot up daily, gasoline which is a major resource of the nation is out of reach and prices are very high; life has become so uncertain as kidnappings happen in daylight and women are raped wantonly with the security services unable to do anything about it.
Just recently, Bishop Kukah of the Catholic Church, a fiery critic of Buhari's administration was fingered by the government to be responsible for the delay by the American government in sending the remaining Tucano jets ordered from America. The Tucano jet is the administration's trump card for winning the war against bandits in the North West and Boko Haram in the North East. How Bishop Kukah, a single Nigerian has become so powerful as to stand in the way of government and what the yet to be supplied Tucano jets can do when the ones already in combat have not been able to put the rampaging bandits and terrorists at bay, are questions Nigerians are asking.
Unfortunately, Leah Sharibu is from the North, the section of the country Buhari is alleged to be pandering to but she is in her predicament because she is from the part of the North that is not favoured and because she is part of the North that is marginalised. She is a Christian from Yobe State where she is not regarded as purebred because she is not Fulani, the most pampered tribe in today’s Nigeria. President Buhari can't understand the bandits’ war in the North West, according to him "among a people who speak the same language and who practice the same religion", meaning whatever happened to Leah is not a surprise but happenings among Muslim brothers is a huge surprise that must be tamed with all military strength.
Leah Sharibu was until February 19, 2018, a student at the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State, where she was nursing her ambition for science in a state and nation in dire need of science and technology as tools for development. But her dream was terminated as agents of death in the garb of a terrorist organization, Islamic State of West African Province, ISWAP, entered her college and carted her away alongside 110 other young girls.
This is the fourth year of Leah Sharibu's captivity by these terror agents. But the sad news that bespeaks of Nigeria's near failure due to poor governance is that she is the only girl still in captivity in the unknown cell of ISWAP, unknown probably because the government didn't want to know it or knew as it is being alleged but careless about it because it fits an agenda. Other 109 students have been released after a deluge of cash exchange between the government and the agents of death, but Leah Sharibu is the only girl not released. Why? She refused to renounce her faith and convert to Islam on the order of the jihadists. Some other Christian girls did but Leah stood her ground and refused to, even when she knew she could be killed by the gun-toting terrorist.
Leah is stoic and courageous, under no condition will she deny her Jesus. Her stoicism has kept her in the face of cruelty so far. Her parents are proud of her that she did not deny their faith, even though they are so pained and are still begging President Buhari to fulfill a promise he made to them and to Nigerians four years ago to spare no effort to rescue the girl. So are other Nigerians including political activists who organized events recently to commemorate her fourth year in captivity. One of them, Reno Omokri said Nigerians have not forgotten Leah Sharibu. He also, along with ace journalist and singer, Onyeka Onwenu and gospel singer Panam Percy Paul released a charity single titled: Angel on Guard, A song for Leah. The aim is to draw the attention of the world to the plight of Leah Sharibu.
Where there is a will there’s a way. But it doesn't seem that there's a will on the part of the government. Many Nigerians are alleging that the captivity of Leah Sharibu is part of the script to Islamize Nigeria. It has been denied many times but Nigerians are very hard to convince. Leah's release either by force or negotiation does not seem to be in sight. News emerged in 2021 that Leah Sharibu has given birth to her second child obviously in the hand of a terrorist. Did this girl change her religion? Was she raped? or forced against her will. The facts are not known but it is inconceivable that stoic Leah will willingly yield to sex from people that hate her so much. Most likely, she was forced against her will. ISWAP has killed two international aid agents, Saifurat Ahmad and Mohammad Liman Alice Loksha because their demands were not met and have threatened they will keep Leah Sharibu as a slave for life, perhaps they mean as a sex slave.
Nigeria's constitution provides for the freedom of movement of her citizens but today, one young Nigerian girl filled with dreams only four years ago is in captivity by terrorists unable to be reached by anybody, even by her parents, and against her will. And the government is not able to do anything about it. A nation fails when it is not able to guarantee basic freedom to its citizens.
When Nigerian terrorists captured American Philippines Walton, the response of America was swift. The US forces moved in cooperation with Nigeria and rescued its citizen. America didn't have to pay any ransom, and neither did Walton die at the hand of the terrorists. Walton who came from far away America was rescued by the US government, yet Nigeria is not able to rescue hundreds of her citizens from the bandits and the Islamist terrorists. This clearly shows that America is a nation that works while Nigeria has failed in this fundamental covenant with its citizens.
Nigerians think their nation is terminally ill. Dr. Dele Omojuyigbe, Deputy Director of Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos, NIJ, in his Facebook page reported by Vanguard newspaper said of his country: "Nigeria has started manifesting symptoms of a terminal patient. Only a miracle can save her. Current indices align with countries that have disintegrated. A tongue in cheek doesn't help matters this time but dangerously underscores baseless pretence. If we are ready to accept reality and not whistle in the dark, we should accept that Nigeria has become a failed state after Buhari came in for a second term in office. A state fails when the political body disintegrates to the extent that the sovereign body can no longer meet its responsibility to the people".
Where will this much-needed miracle to save Nigeria from imminent collapse and extinction come from? Leah Sharibu's ordeal in the hands of her captors typifies the ordeal of Nigerians in the hands of her political and economic captors, her hypocritical leaders. By all means, Leah Sharibu must be forcefully taken out of the hands of her captors and Nigeria must be taken, even if forcefully from the hands of her captors too in the same way Leah Sharibu is to be yanked off from the terrorists.
Nigeria is warming up for another cycle of elections in 2023 and already all manner of men and women of dubious character who have misled the nation are lining up again to be president, senators, governors, and Federal and State Assembly Representatives. Nigeria can only come out of the woods until this cast of politicians is rejected by Nigerians when they refuse to vote along the tribal line or to allow themselves to be influenced by the money usually offered as a bribe for votes. The youth must rise up to campaign among themselves that it is time to reject that which is not fresh in the thinking of Nigerians and bring in men and women with fresh minds to pilot the affairs of our beleaguered nation. That is the miracle. Nigeria will be free when Leah Sharibu is free. Leah Sharibu is a mindset and therefore the face of a failed Nigeria.
Meanwhile, Transforming Uplifting and Reforming Nigeria (TURN) is concerned about the plight of Leah Sharibu and would like to raise worldwide awareness about her continuing abduction by Boko Haram. TURN is interested in working with Nigerians from all walks of life to effect Leah’s release.
TURN is a non-partisan organization that seeks to confront all evils that have befallen Nigeria and Nigerians based on the members’ sense of commitment, love, loyalty, and patriotism toward ensuring good governance in Nigeria.
Tunde Akande is both a Journalist and a Pastor. He earned a Master’s degree in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos
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