President of Women Arise, a pressure group, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, on Thursday, called out the government for more accountability by on issues of child protection and friendliness.
Okei-Odumakin spoke in Lagos in commemoration of the 17th birthday of Leah Sharibu, a Christian faithful and prisoner of conscience since 2018.
Sharibu, reports the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), was one of the 110 students of the Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe, abducted on Feb. 19, 2018, by Boko Haram militants.
While others were released to negotiators for the government, Sharibu was held back for allegedly refusing to renounce Christianity.
“Every further day Sharibu spends in captivity indicts the Nigerian government that had been unable to fulfill its promises,” declared According to Okei-Odumakin.
The group urged Nigerians to rededicate themselves anew to the worthy cause of working assiduously for Sharibu’s release from Boko Haram captivity.
“I lend my voice to those of other freedom-loving patriots across the globe to celebrate our darling Leah Sharibu as she turns 17.
“Leah defines courage as all that stands between her and personal liberty is the conviction of her courage.”
Okei-Odumakin said it was a sad commentary as supposedly conscionable Nigerians appeared to have abandoned Sharibu and her family to their fate.
“On this occasion of her birthday, we also demand more accountability from the government on issues of child protection and friendliness.
“Leah Sharibu and the case of Chibok girls [abducted from Chibok, Borno State in 2014], who remain perpetually in captivity since 2014 give indications that Nigeria may have become a giant prison of sorts for her children.
“There shall be no relenting until freedom is won for Leah and all the others in one form of insidious captivity or another. We wait for our heroine day and night.”
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