The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, has said the Presidency is taking immediate steps to confirm the condition of Leah Sharibu, following reports that she has been killed.
Leah was one of the Dapchi schoolgirls abducted last year, but while others were returned, she had remained in captivity.
Grace Taku, an aid worker with Non-Governmental Organisation, Action Against Hunger, who was kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists on July 18, had claimed in a “proof of life video” that Leah alongside one Alice had been killed by the insurgents because of the Federal Government’s inability to “do something”.
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While the video doesn’t state the surname of the Leah killed, Nigerians believed it was Sharibu that was being referred to.
But reacting via a Facebook post, Shehu, who did not say if Sharibu was alive or not, said, “The Presidency has been briefed by the responsible government agency about the disturbing video showing our citizens, the humanitarian aid workers held captive. The Presidency has been given assurances that contact is being made and the captors are being talked to.
“Beside these aid workers, there are some others about whom this engagement is about-Leah Sharibu, a religious leader and all the others. These discussions have been ongoing even before this time and what this latest incident has done is to bring urgency to the efforts that the secret service is making.
“Government is making contacts, in the hope that the captors will see reason to not visit hardship or even harm on these innocent individuals.”