from EMEKA OKONKWO in Abuja, Nigeria
ABUJA, (CAJ News) – THERE is glimmer of hope the Nigerian girl held by the Boko Haram since 2018 after refusing to deny her Christian faith would eventually be rescued.
Leah Sharibu (now 18), was one of 109 school girls abducted by the Islamist group in town of Dapchi in the northeastern Yobe State.
One of the minors died in captivity.
All others were released within a month after the militants forced them to renounce Christianity but Sharibu has remained hostage because of her defiance against abandoning her religion.
Open Doors, the non-denominational mission supporting persecuted Christians in the world, disclosed she was still alive.
The organisation, quoting a local pastor, said the news gave Shabiru’s family hope they will be reunited with her.
“What a traumatic experience for this teenage girl,” Open Doors quoted Reverend Para-Mallam as saying.
“But we are grateful to God that she is still alive,” the Christian leader said.
“The news of her being alive should encourage our hearts to remain hopeful that one day Leah will be set free.”
Boko Haram has earned global infamy for its strings of kidnappings of scholars in northeastern Nigeria.
The most gruesome was the abduction of some 276 mostly Christian female students, aged from 16 to 18, from a government school in Chibok, also in the northeast.
More than 100 of these young women are still missing.
Boko Haram, which has degenerated into factions, has been carrying out attacks since 2009 in a bid to establish an Islamic caliphate in northeast Nigeria.
– CAJ News