Leah has been acclaimed for having refused to convert to Islam as the terrorists demanded.
General Irabor reportedly assured Leah’s parents in a program on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Tuesday, January 11, that the young woman would be rescued.
During the Good Morning Nigeria interview on NTA, General Irabor also reportedly said he was “aware of plans and of course, processes that are in place to ensure that not just Leah Sharibu but every other person held captive is released.”
He also revealed that one of the Chibok Girls was rescued around three weeks earlier, saying, “I would like to reassure Nigerians and the world at large that the Federal Government, using the military, is working very hard to ensure that everyone that has been held captive regains their freedom.”
General Irabor also welcomed the January 5 designation of the armed groups operating in the country’s Northwest who were previously termed “armed bandits”, as terrorists.
The designation, announced on 5 January in a government gazette which termed their activities “acts of terrorism and illegality,” means “the techniques, tactics, and procedures (TTPs) [the armed forces] used in handling them certainly will have to change. Tagging them as terrorists also gives it a global disposition, a global form that will enable other key global actors to take certain important actions against them.”
The gazette also extends the designation to include “other similar groups in any part” of the country, and “especially in… the north-central region.”
CSW reports that the newly designated groups, largely comprising men of Fulani ethnicity, have subjected predominantly Muslim Hausa farming communities in Northern Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto and Zamfara states “to a campaign of violence characterized by looting, abductions for ransom, rape, extortion, death, and destruction.”
The Christian entity says that over 30,000 of these heavily armed terrorists operate from forests in the six Nigerian States, living in 100 camps, each accommodating at least 300 men.
According to CSW, at least 200 people were killed and an estimated 10,000 were displaced between January 4 and 6 after 300 terrorists on motorcycles attacked around nine localities in the Rafin Danya, Barayar Zaki, Rafin Gero and Kurfa villages in the Anka and Bukkuyum Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Zamfara state.
