Leah Sharibu now leads ISWAP medical team in Lake Chad – report

Leah Sharibu, the lone schoolgirl held in captivity by members of Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) who invaded Government Secondary School, Dapchi in 2018, now leads a medical team of the sect in Lake Chad, local security sources told a national publication.

Sharibu was abducted alongside over 109 schoolmates from Government Girls Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, on February 19, 2018.

Five of the girls were reportedly killed in captivity while ISWAP returned 104 girls to their families, except Sharibu.

ISWAP reportedly kept Leah Sharibu because she refused to comply with their demands and convert to Islam.

Government had entered into negotiation with the terrorists who threatened to kill Sharibu if their demands were not met.

In September 2018, ISWAP executed Saifura Ahmed, one of three humanitarian aid workers linked with the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC) they had abducted in March, threatening to do the same to the two others and to Leah Sharibu.

In October, ISWAP killed the second, Hauwa Mohammad Liman and threatened to keep Sharibu as a “slave for life.”

According to Daily Trust report, a security source revealed that after her abduction, Leah was “trained” on how to administer some medical services to injured Boko Haram fighters and women.

One the antics of terrorists in the North East is forcing their captives with expertise in some areas like medicine, nursing, engineering, computer, among others to train their members on such areas.

“She was ‘trained’ as a medical personnel and now leads the ISWAP medical team in the northern part of the Lake Chad area,” the source said.

The captive is also said to have remarried an ISWAP commander after divorcing her first husband whom she had two children for.

In one of the rare interviews he granted on his daughter’s plight, the victim’s father accused the government of abandoning his family.

“I have not heard anything from Federal, state and local governments since my daughter was abducted. I am even confused now. I need your assistance to put pressure on  the Federal Government to do something about the release of my daughter,” he had said.