Leah Sharibu Marks 150 Days In Captivity

Leah Sharibu Marks 150 Days In Captivity

For Immediate Release

Highlights

– World wide protests at Nigeria embassies abroad

– Leah 150 Days Captive

– UK Govt denies knowledge of occupation of 50 Plateau villages by Fulani Herdsmen

– Chibok girls confirm some of their abductors were teenagers
– lawyer’s interview on Buhari at ICC & Ekiti elections

Washington July 19, 2018 –

Today,  heroine Christian Schoolgirl, Leah Sharibu, the sole remaining hostage of the 2018 Dapchi school mass abductions, marked her 5th month in Boko Haram captivity. Leah was abducted on February 19 2018 but was not released alongside her Muslim classmates a month later. She has been held back now for 120 days since their release and 150 days in total.

In a week of protests around Nigerian embassies in world centers, the killings in Nigeria continue to gain attention.

On Friday July 13, simultaneous protests held at the Nigerian embassy in Washington USA and its consulates at New York and Atlanta respectively. While diplomats at the embassy in Washington interacted with the demonstrators saying “no sane human being would not sympathize with what you are going through”, the mission in New York reportedly called the police to the scene.

The protests lamenting the recent massacres in Plateau were organized by the Plateau State Association in US (PSA.)

On Wednesday July 18, protestors thronged the Nigerian embassy in London to demand the release of Leah Sharibu on her 5th month of captivity. Organized by Christian Solidarity Worldwide, the London protesters featured more Britons than Nigerians.

Also in Netherlands, protestors rallied against the massacres of members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra in a protest organized by IPOB to coincide with General Buhari’s visit to the ICC.

We wish to commend the Nigerian army on the capture of Boko Haram Terrorists involved in the Chibok Schoolgirl mass abduction of 2014.

Based on our evaluation of their profiles most of those who confessed to participating in the Chibok attack are in their earlier 20s.

This means they were about 16 years old at the time of the abductions in April 2015

This is consistent with evidence we had gleaned from our investigation of the crime as some of the Chibok girls informed us that their attackers included young boys who were “smaller than” them.

An escaped Chibok girl told us that one of their captors was riding around on a bike, during the siege of their school, with a gun slung over his shoulder.

 She believes that he found the bike during the raid of their staff quarters.

It is therefore indeed plausible and consistent with our findings that these confessed attackers were part of the abductions.

We ask that the government not only ensure justice but also extract their cooperation to recover the 100 missing girls.

Finally the UK Government has denied knowledge of villages occupied by Fulani Herdsmen in Plateau. See below:

Additional resources:

Video of London Embassy Leah protest https://www.facebook.com/groups/1560987890666262/permalink/1691829597582090/

Video of protests at Atlanta consulate https://www.facebook.com/USNigerialaw/videos/1917220671911261/

Video of protest at Washington embassy

More Pictures of these protests can be found here https://www.facebook.com/1434215680211765/posts/1917231211910207/

Diplomats empathize with human rights lawyer Emmanuel Ogebe and protesters

PSA protester at Nigerian mission New York

National President of PSA USA flanked by members at Nigerian embassy protest Washington

PREVIOUSLY
The release of the abducted schoolgirls is the solitary achievement of this administration after 3 years but sadly it remains an uncompleted project just like the Chibok girls Saga. Although the Buhari administration achieved a negotiated release of over 100 girls, another 100 Chibok girls remain unaccounted for and none have been released for over a year.

It is troubling that an administration which rode to power on the firestorm over the Chibok abductions and is a principal beneficiary of that unfortunate saga has not deemed it fit to complete the total liberation of the girls. More worrisome is the fact that the government managed to, in its sole notable achievement thus far, secure the release of some of the girls. Having found the appropriate resolution mechanism it makes no sense other than state failure for the government to be unable to secure their total release or credibly explain why not.

Similarly the Dapchi mass abduction saga resulted in the first speedy mass abduction resolution midwifed by the Department of State Security. It is disconcerting that the DSS would negotiate the release of all but one of the remaining Dapchi schoolgirls more so the sole Christian captive. Again there is no rationale explanation why a DSS that has successfully secured the release of the Muslim girls has failed, refused or neglected to bring back Leah 3 months after her schoolmates.

We remind the Federal Government that
“Article II:  In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”
Excerpt from the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide

Genocidal acts need not kill or cause the death of members of a group. Causing serious bodily or mental harm, prevention of births and transfer of children are acts of genocide when committed as part of a policy to destroy a group’s existence. The systematic targeting of northern Nigeria’s Christian minorities’ children for abduction and transfer to Islam fits squarely within this definition of Genocide in sub paragraph (e) above.

Based on the above, we hereby give notice to the Federal Government to produce:
– Leah Sharibu, age 15, the sole remaining hostage of the Dapchi mass abduction held for 4 months plus on account of her Christian faith and
– Dorcas Yakubu the youngest Chibok abductee who was abducted at age 15 and 100 others held for 4 years and forcefully converted to Islam
by July 1st 2018 failing which these genocidal abductions shall be escalated to the International Criminal Court for the Prosecutor’s attention.

We wish to decry the failure of the Nigerian Government to meet with or brief the Sharibu family on the state of their abducted daughter four months after the fact. Indeed the only government officials to have met the family is a visiting EU parliamentary delegation.

This is an unfortunate repeat of the failure of Nigerian government officials to meet some escaped Chibok girls until after they met a visiting US congressional delegation in June 2014.

Youngest Chibok SchoolGirl Dorcas Yakubu abducted at 15 turned 20 on June 8, 2018

Leah’s mother met by visiting EU Parliament Human Rights Committee

Leah held 120 Days today

US congressional human rights delegation met with escaped Chibok girl and parents of missing girls 4 years ago June 2014

END

Emmanuel Ogebe, Esq.
US NIGERIA LAW GROUP