Leah Sharibu’s mother sues FG, demands N500m damages

Rebecca Sharibu has sued the federal government for failing to secure the release of Leah, her daughter. Leah Sharibu was among the 119 stud...

Rebecca Sharibu has sued the federal government for failing to secure the release of Leah, her daughter.

Leah Sharibu was among the 119 students of Government Girls Secondary School, Dapchi, Yobe state, abducted by Boko Haram in February.

All the abducted girls were subsequently released, except five who reportedly died in detention.

Leah was held back by the insurgent group for “refusing to renounce her faith”. 

In a suit filed at the federal high court in Lagos, Rebecca sought N500 damages over the government’s “dereliction of duties”.

Joined as defendants in the suit are Ibrahim Idris, inspector-general of police, and Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation.

The suit was jointly filed with Daniel David Kadzai and Lift-Up-Now Incorporation, a US-based organisation.

A copy of the suit dated September 19, 2018, with no FCH/L/cs/1528/18, was made available to journalists on Tuesday.

Among the prayers the plaintiff sought from the court is an order “directing and mandating the defendants to secure the immediate and unconditional release of the plaintiff from the custody of her captors forthwith”.

The plaintiff is also seeking “an order compelling the defendants to employ every means in securing the plaintiff from the custody of her captors; an order compelling the defendants to pay the plaintiff the sum of N500 million being compensation for the indignities and human deprivations suffered by the plaintiff as a result of the defendants’ dereliction of statutory duties in securing her release from her captors since the month of February, 2018 till date of this action”.

The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a faction of Boko Haram, has kept Leah in captivity for seven months, sparking public outrage.

In August, TheCable obtained an audio of Sharibu appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to rescue her.

The federal government had said it was making efforts to secure her release.

But in a recent interview with Voice of America (VOA), Nathaniel Sharibu, the girl’s father, said no government official has reached out to the family since the kidnap incident.

Recall some suspected robbers recently broke into her parents’ residence in Borno.