Lawyer Demands Release of Leah Sharibu
Human rights lawyer, Emmanuel Ogebe, who heads the US Nigeria Law Group, has called for urgent action in the release of the heroine Christian Schoolgirl, Leah Sharibu, the sole remaining hostage of the 2018 Dapchi school mass abduction which occurred on 19th March.
Ogebe, who feared that Sharibu becomes like the yet to return Chibok girls, said it is “troubling that an administration which rode to power on the firestorm over the Chibok abductions and is a principal beneficiary of that unfortunate saga has not deemed it fit to complete the total liberation of the girls.”
The lawyer also demanded for government’s intervention in bringing back the Chibok girls abducted five years ago.
In a statement signed by Ogebe and made available to the Independent, he alleged the act of genocide against the northern Christians.
“Genocidal acts need not kill or cause the death of members of a group. Causing serious bodily or mental harm, prevention of births and transfer of children are acts of genocide when committed as part of a policy to destroy a group’s existence.
“The systematic targeting of northern Nigeria’s Christian minorities’ children for abduction and transfer to Islam fits squarely within this definition of genocide.
“Based on the above, we hereby give notice to the Federal Government to produce: Leah Sharibu, age 15, the sole remaining hostage of the Dapchi mass abduction held for four months plus on account of her Christian faith and Dorcas Yakubu, the youngest Chibok abductee, who was abducted at age 15 and 100 others held for four years and forcefully converted to Islam by July 1st 2017 failing which these genocidal abductions shall be escalated to the International Criminal Court for the Prosecutor’s attention.
“We wish to decry the failure of the Nigerian Government to meet with or brief the Sharibu family on the state of their abducted daughter four months after the fact. Indeed the only government officials to have met the family is a visiting EU parliamentary delegation. This is an unfortunate repeat of the failure of Nigerian government officials to meet some escaped Chibok girls until after they met a visiting US congressional delegation in June 2014,” the statement reads in part.
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