By Ishaya Ibrahim
Former Presidential candidate of Kowa Party in the 2015 general elections, Remi Sonaiya, has said that Leah Sharibu, the Christian girl, who refused to convert to Islam at the behest of her Boko Haram abductors, is a courageous girl who deserved respect.
Sonaiya was chairperson of TheNiche 4th anniversary lecture held at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) Lagos on April 20, 2018.
Moved by the young girl’s courage, she dedicated her chairman’s role at the event to Leah Sharibu, for standing up against the terrorists.
“I will like to dedicate my participation in this programme to Leah Sharibu. This is an incredible girl who looked at her captor and say ‘I’ll not do as you say because I know what I believe.’
“Our President said that Nigerian youths are lazy. Leah does not strike me as somebody lazy,” she said.
On the 2019 general elections, Sonaiya said the media should not portray the race like it did in 2015 when it was fixated on the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), as if they were the only runners.
“Please, this time, let Nigerians know that they have options,” she said.
Traditional ruler of Abriba, Kalu Kalu Ogbu, National Conscience Party (NCP) presidential candidate in the 2015 election, Martins Onovo, Professor Anya O Anya, minister of information, Lai Mohammed, represented by Bridget Yerima, a director at the ministry, an elder statesman, Umah Eleazu, were some of the dignitaries that graced the occasion.
