By EMMANUEL OGEBE

On her 21^st birthday, we were concerned to read media reports about captive Christian heroine schoolgirl Leah Sharibu. While most of the facts reported in the story is old news, including our world exclusive report on her birth of a second child in captivity, we’re troubled by the claim that Leah converted to Islam and was married, “According to a “repentant” terrorist, Sharibu first married Abdulrahman after converting to Islam and had a son with him.”

Our sources which include women who were fellow captives with Leah however said:

“When she first arrived their camp, they gave her out to a certain commander who took her as his slave, but later on went ahead to free her and marry her.

“After taking in for him, she asked for a divorce, because she was always fighting with his wives.

“She then married her second husband had a baby girl for him in May 2021.

“But heard he passed sometime last year Abu Farahi Aka Ali Abdallah.”

The fact of the matter is that Leah was enslaved due to her refusal to convert to Islam and served a particular commander.

He was so impressed with her that he on his own volition decided to emancipate her from serfdom and then married her.

However bitter conflict arose between her and his other wives who still looked down on her as an infidel even if she was now supposed to be their co-wife. Just like the biblical story of Joseph who found favor as a slave in Pharaoh’s commander’s house but got into trouble with his wife, Leah had a similar predicament.

Seizing on her coequal status as a wife and her matrimonial rights under the law, Leah who is a highly intelligent girl applied for divorce and therefore escaped from that toxic environment.

It was a short lived victory because she was immediately taken by a high ranking commander as his wife in view of her status as a high value captive but at least her circumstances changed dramatically henceforth.

The military recently rescued Chibok girl Lydia Simon with three children after 10 years in captivity. It is feasible that the military can rescue this global Nigerian icon too. We commend the military for their gallantry.

In addition to seeking her release by the Tinubu regime to show greater concern for Leah Sharibu, we ask for protection and relocation for her birth mother and siblings who were recently displaced during Easter by terror attacks near Sambisa.

We call on FGN to reunite all rescued Chibok girls to their families and to provide full details of and access to information on total numbers of those rescued to resolve the needless and scandalous controversy of figures of those still missing.

We call on Kano state government to release the Du Merci orphans kidnapped over four years ago by the APC government who have still not been released till date despite full and total exoneration of the wrongfully persecuted humanitarian professor Solomon Tarfa.

Kano state cannot afford to be a running mate to Boko Haram terrorists in kidnapping schoolchildren like its predecessor.

We call on Nigeria to clear the air on false narratives that the CIA rescued 30 Chibok girls as published in a recent book “The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA” by Liza Mundy (Crown Books, October 2023).

•Emmanuel Ogebe is of US Nigeria Law Group, Washington.

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