Nigerians have condemned President Muhammad Buhari’s spokesman, Garbu Shehu, for describing Leah Sharib, the only Christian girl among Dapchi schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2018, as an “unfortunate Christian girl”.
Shehu, who responded to a tweet from Reno Omokri, a former presidential aide to Goodluck Jonathan, described Leah as “an unfortunate Christian girl stolen by Boko Haram”.
Reno challenged Shehu who said President Bukhari made Nigeria safer, to visit one of the horrible parts of northern Nigeria and spend a night without insurance if he is convinced Bukhari made Nigeria safer.
In his Tweet Reno wrote:
Garba Shehu said the general @MBuhari has made Nigeria safer. I vow to pay @GarShehu $ 20,000 if he spends the night without insurance in Koshobe or Kware, as confirmed by an independent journalist. I’ll give the funds @DeleMomodu when Garba agrees to go
Retweet, so Garba sees it
– Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) December 23, 2020
Garba Shehu, rejecting the challenge, said: “If this is money from collections made in the name of Leah Sharibu, the unfortunate Christian girl stolen by Boko Haram, I will not touch her for long. Please keep “your USD20000”.
If this is money from collections made in the name of Leah Sharibu, the unfortunate Christian girl stolen by Boko Haram, I won’t touch it for long. Please keep “your USD20000”. https://t.co/zn4NC24L9X
– Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) December 23, 2020
Leah’s description as an “unhappy Christian girl” was initiated by most Nigerians who condemned Shehu’s statement on Twitter.
Below are some reactions:
@Uwayaisi “Stolen unfortunate girl Christain.” Make this make sense. It is not the property but the people kidnapped and forgotten by the government led by Bukhari. And finally, she is not an unhappy Christian girl. “
@divaliciousjay “Look how stupid he gave up! Some of these people working with Bukhari need a psychiatric assessment! Let the Christian in any case say the opposite! “
@call_me_oma “I thought I was the only one offended by those statements, in what country I found myself in a horribly crying face”
@obydike “@GarShehu everyone knows Leah Sharibu and the story of how Nigeria failed her. Labeling her as an unhappy Christian girl was ill-advised and reckless! You can deploy another subject for your deflective tactics. He mocks Leah Sharib. Nigeria will still happen to you. It’s time for a turn! ”
@jideybrain “Unhappy Christian girl” stolen by boko haram .. power is not forever .. just quote it … there are more sentences .. i come in peace ✌🏿 “
@Mr_CalebEli “Garba Shehu, Leah Sharibu is not an unhappy Christian girl, she was not stolen, she was abducted by Boko Haram. Your principal failed to bring her back like he did to the other girls who were abducted with her. Face Ren and don’t leave Leah out of this. Respect that name Leah ”
@irebamisoyinka “@GarShehu The phrase“ unhappy Christian girl ”is the culmination of your reckless words. You need to learn how to react in a way that befits a father or grandfather (if you really are). That statement is too difficult, Mr. Aide. Is Lea’s capture now a political game? “
According to her mother, Lea could have been released in 2018 along with schoolmates, but she refused to renounce her faith.
Leah Sharibu refused to accept Islam, resisting pleas from her classmates to pretend to do so, her parents learned from a snatched conversation with her friends.
The Boko Haram faction abducted 110 girls and one boy from a girls ’school in Dapchi, a city in northeastern Nigeria, on February 19, 2018, and released most of them a month later, after the government described it as a“ return channel ”of negotiations.
Three years later, Leah was not released and the government did not reveal whether she was still alive or dead.
Vanguard News Nigeria