Boko Haram offered to release Leah Sharibu for ransom, lawyer alleges
Boko Haram terrorists offered to release Christian schoolgirl Leah Sharibu for a ransom, international human rights lawyer Emmanuel Ogebe has alleged.
Speaking from Mexico on the 8th anniversary of her abduction, the renowned DC-based religious freedom advocate said that after hostage negotiators established contact with the terrorists through a network of global jihadi intermediaries, a face-to-face meeting was brokered between an anti-human trafficking NGO and top terror leaders.
Unfortunately, the ransom amount was too excessive for the NGO and the talks to secure her release subsequently failed. The amount requested by Boko Haram for Leah’s ransom was almost triple the amount paid by the Nigerian government for the 102 Chibok girls who were ransomed back reported to be €3 million.
Ogebe further disclosed that the terrorists involved in the original negotiations have since died and the likelihood for further negotiations is slim unless her current captors establish communication.
“My understanding is that, of course, the NGO concerned did not have such an amount to pay for Leah’s freedom, but more importantly, did not want to fund the terrorists to unleash even more weapons and death on others.
“However, my sources believe that the terrorists asked for such a huge amount then not to buy arms but because they were considering abandoning terrorism and fleeing with the money to take care of themselves well abroad.
“They did not trust the government’s amnesty program because they said some government officials sponsored them so if they surrendered, they would be eliminated to protect their secret.
“Incidentally, all three Boko Haram leaders involved in the negotiations for Leah have since died.
“If their demands had been more reasonable, maybe Leah would’ve been their salvation and their ticket out alive.
“On the other hand, Leah is like the Ark of God in their camp. Anyone who touches her wrongly will die. Her second husband has been killed also.
“You don’t trouble God’s hand maiden because God will trouble you.
“When Pharaoh took Sarah, Abraham’s wife, to his palace, God troubled the whole kingdom of Egypt until she was freed. How much more his precious daughter Leah who put her trust in him?
“When you hear even Trump speaking out on the persecution of Christians in Nigeria, you know that this is beyond human imagination.
“The U.S. forces mobilised for Nigeria now are more than those mobilised by Obama after the 276 Chibok girls abduction.
“God is not sleeping nor is he mocked.
“Boko Haram may have gained temporary battleground advantage with the dislocation of two U.S. bases from Niger but the current U.S. response is good reason for them to reconsider a truce to end 22 years of senseless and pointless bloodshed. Nigeria is not Syria. Their fellow wanted designated global terrorist is now President there only after he abandoned his terrorist ways.
“Boko Haram’s pathway to peace is tied to the release of Leah,” he concluded.
