Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja

As Miss Leah Sharibu, the student of Government Girls Science Secondary School, Dapchi, Yobe State, clocks one year in captivity today, her father, Mr Nathaniel Sharibu, has said it is only through dreams that he interacts with his abducted daughter.

Pained by the situation, Sharibu urged Nigerians, particularly the media, to impress it on the Federal Government to fulfil the promise it made to the family last year to ensure the release of Leah from the hands of Boko Haram.

The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a faction of terror group Boko Haram, had abducted Miss Sharibu along with other students of the school on February 19, 2018.

Following the abduction and efforts to secure their release, 104 of the abducted students were reported to have been released, with Leah held back in captivity by the terrorists for supposedly refusing to renounce her Christian faith.

Leah Sharibu

In the last update on Leah, ISWAP had said Leah will remain in captivity as a slave, having earlier given a one month ultimatum to the government to secure her release through ransom or have her killed.

But speaking with Daily Sun from Adamawa, Mr Sharibu said: “I have to tell Nigerians that the thing (Leah’s abduction) was very, very painful. I am totally discouraged due to the type of situation because it is one year on the dot today since my daughter was abducted and nothing was done. They (Federal Government) are just promising, promising, promising, promising, but nothing I see on ground. I am even confused now. All the family is in confusion now.”

Recalling the events of February 19, 2018, Mr Sharibu said he was in his base in Yola, Adamawa State, when his loved ones contacted him and broke the news that Boko Haram invaded his daughter’s school and made away with some students.

Mr Sharibu added: “Later in the morning, they discovered Leah was among them. We are very, very sad. I can’t explain it. It is beyond explanation. Very sad!”

Mr Sharibu however expressed hope that his daughter is still alive since he was yet to receive any rumour that his daughter is dead.

Mr Sharibu further told Daily Sun: “Almost every night, I see Leah in my dream. I saw Leah coming to me, saying ‘Daddy, how are you?’ As we used to joke with her, I used to deal with her. Unfortunately, when I woke up, I see no Leah.”

On correspondence with the government, Sharibu restated his earlier remarks that he had never heard from the government, except last year when President Muhammadu Buhari called his wife, Mrs Rebecca Sharibu, on phone and assured her that he would do his possible best to see to the release of Leah.

According to Mr Sharibu, “He delegated three ministers to my house, the same October last year, to assure us that they were doing their possible best to see that Leah returns safely. From there, I did not hear anything from them and I did not see any action from them. They are just doing their politics,” Leah’s father bemoaned.

He urged the media to remind the government that it is exactly one year since Leah has been in captivity, even as he pleaded with the government to fulfil the promise made to his wife and family to bring her back home.