Jihadist militant organization Boko Haram confirmed a 15-year-old schoolgirl, kidnapped by the group in February, is still alive this week. The terrorist group released an audio recording yesterday of Leah Sharibu asking Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari to work for her release.
Sharibu’s parents confirmed the voice in the recording belongs to their daughter, according to the nonprofit International Christian Concern. They also said the Nigerian government has not contacted them about the situation. "The government has not contacted [us] ever since she has been abducted and even today they have not contacted [us]," they said.
Sharibu remains in captivity after refusing to renounce her faith, according to her freed classmates. In the recording, she asks for help to secure her release and assist her family:
I am Leah Sharibu, the girl that was abducted in GGSS Dapchi. I am calling on the government and people of goodwill to intervene to get me out of my current situation. I also plead to the members of the public to help my mother, my father, my younger brother, and relatives. Kindly help me out of my predicament. I am begging you to treat me with compassion, I am calling on the government, particularly the president, to pity me and get me out of this serious situation. Thank you.
Sharibu’s father was happy to hear his daughter’s voice, but also expressed concern for her wellbeing. "I thought she might have been killed since we were told by those released that Boko Haram kept her because she is a Christian," he said. "I can only imagine the way they would have treated her."
ICC’s regional manager for Africa, Nathan Johnson, called the release of the audio "amazing news to hear."
"Now is the time for President Buhari to show that he will truly work to rescue Leah from the hands of evil," Johnson added.
Buhari’s spokesman, Garba Shehu, said the president is committed to finding every schoolgirl. "For President Buhari, nothing will be spared in bringing all our girls home. He will not rest until all of them are freed."
In February, over 100 schoolgirls, Sharibu among them, were kidnapped from a boarding school in Dapchi village in Nigeria by Boko Haram militants. Most of the girls were released in March.
In 2014, Boko Haram abducted almost 300 girls from a school in Chibok, and over a hundred of them remain missing. The group is based in Nigeria, and is also active in nearby countries, including Chad, Niger and northern Cameroon.