- The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs says it explored all possible channels of reaching out to Boko Haram to negotiate the release of Leah Sharibu, the only Dapchi girl still in custody of the insurgents
- The secretary-general of the Muslim body, Ishaq Oloyede, accuses the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) of escalating the state of insecurity in the country
- Nathan Sharibu, father of Leah Sharibu, accuses the federal government of abandoning his family
The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) has disclosed that it had reached out to Boko Haram insurgents in a bid to negotiate the release of Leah Sharibu, the only Dapchi girl still being held in captivity by the terrorist group.
The Punch reports that the secretary-general of NSCIA, Ishaq Oloyede, made the disclosure on Monday, June 4, when delivering a lecture on Achieving Peace, Stability and Good Governance in a Multi-Religious and Multi-Ethnic Nation: The Islamic Perspective, in Lagos.
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Oloyede said the Muslim body explored all possible channels of reaching out to Boko Haram with a proposal to secure amnesty for the group provided the insurgents released Leah Sharibu.
He said: "The unfortunate abduction of Leah and other girls, both Muslims and Christians, is intensely hurtful to all right-thinking persons. I am aware that the particular case of Leah made the leadership of the NSCIA reach out to all possible channels of reaching the group with a proposal to secure amnesty for the group provided Leah and other girls in captivity are released and the group surrender their arms. This knowledge made the careless threat particularly painful."
Oloyede however accused the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) of escalating the state of insecurity in the country with its threat that there would be a religious war should Leah Sharibu die in captivity of Boko Haram.
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Oloyede said: "I am as astonished as the Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, who recently expressed shock at the destructive and counter-productive statement.
“Boko Haram has never hidden its mission of setting Nigeria ablaze through a religious war. Whose interest was the call to serve? Definitely, not that of the innocent Nigerian lady, Leah Sharibu. Is it fair, religious or Godly to, for the sake of political grandstanding and publicity-seeking, endanger the life of such a precious, principled and promising lady?"
Meanwhile, the father of Leah Sharibu, the only Dapchi girl still in Boko Haram custody has accused the federal government of abandoning his family and not communicating with them on efforts to secure his daughter's freedom.
The Nation reports that Nathan Sharibu, who said his wife and Leah’s mother cried on Monday, May 14, on the abducted girl’s 15th birthday, spoke on a radio programme monitored in Abuja.
He said he had not heard anything from federal, state and local governments since his daughter was abducted, lamenting that he had become confused.
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Source: Naija.ng