Pastor Zakaria offers to exchange for the release of Leah Shariba
Concerned about the long stay of Leah Sharibu in the imprisonment of Boko Haram, the American preacher Pastor Zakaria invited the kidnappers to submit so that the girl could find her freedom again.
Sharibu, who is one of the students abducted at the State Women’s Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, who was abducted three years ago, is still in detention after she reportedly refused to renounce her Christian faith.
Zakaria announced his intention during a meeting with reporters at the company of the United States-based Nigerian universal human rights lawyer, Emmanuel Ogebe, at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport (MMIA) VIP Lounge, Ikea, Lagos.
A New York pastor who is on a humanitarian mission in Nigeria said: “I met with senior government officials from Sokoto and Abuja and asked if they would be willing to take me to Boko Haram so I could discuss Sharibu’s publication.
“They said that no one knows where they are and that it is very difficult to get the message across. Then I came back in December and drove all the way to Jos in Plateau state and tried again to find out where he was to see if I could ask them. “
Zakaria said he briefed the State Department and the US Embassy in Nigeria about his mission to the country, adding that he has permission from his 41-year-old wife, five children and nine grandchildren.
The emotional depressant rehabilitation specialist noted that he has been following the teenager’s case since his abduction, adding that this is his third visit in four months to negotiate the girl’s release.
“I am here to negotiate the release of Leah Sharibu, exchange with her and go captive. I turned to senior government agents for help to meet with the Boko Haram kidnappers, ”he said.
Promising to offer money or sacrifice his life for Sharibu, Zakaria said: “Take me and free Leah. I’m sure they will want something more Western than Leah Sharibu.
“What are they going to hurt her? The best thing is to take a Westerner and leave her. I think we need to agree on something, be it money or something else, ”the preacher emphasized.
However, Ogebe used the third anniversary of the 16-year-old’s abduction to urge those who held her captive to consider trading her for this pastor.
“But even if they don’t want to trade with the pastor, they just have to have a sense of human decency; you did the worst thing that happened if she gave birth to your child, let her go and let her go.
“There is no point in holding it in your hands. As far as we know, there is no coercion in Islam. What they are doing is clearly not even in line with the principles of the Islamic religion. Since there is a shadow from it, they must lose it and let go. “
According to Zakaria: “I offer them to exchange Leia for me, and I will go prisoner. Wherever it is, I am ready to go there and exchange for myself. The basis for this is the Gospel of John 15:13: “There is no man who is more loving than that which a man lays down his life for his brother and sister.
Source: – Independent Ng
