Only God can tell when Leah Sharibu will return, family says
Why Leah Sharibu remains missing after Boko Haram kidnapping.
More than eight years after Boko Haram militants dragged Leah Sharibu out of her school in northern Nigeria, her family says no human being can say when she will return – only God.
Leah, now in her early twenties, was the sole Christian among the 110 schoolgirls abducted from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State, on 19 February 2018. Five weeks later, the jihadist group released more than 100 of the girls, but Leah was not among them.
Her father, Nathan Sharibu, has said in numerous interviews that the family has received no reliable word about her condition and continues to depend on prayer. ‘Only God can tell when Leah will return,’ he has told reporters, with similar words echoed by her mother, Rebecca Sharibu, at vigils and public appeals.
A prisoner of faith
Leah was 14 when she was seized. According to accounts from released students and advocacy groups, she was singled out because she refused to renounce her Christian faith after being told she would be freed if she converted to Islam. The faction responsible for the kidnapping, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), later confirmed in an audio message that it was holding her and that its fighters would treat her according to their interpretation of Islamic law.
The then-leader of the faction, Abu Musab al-Barnawi, said Leah would remain in captivity until she abandoned her religion. Her defiant refusal drew international attention and turned her into a symbol of religious persecution in Nigeria, where Boko Haram has killed thousands in a 15-year insurgency.
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Over the years, conflicting claims have circulated about her fate. In 2020, reports emerged that she had been killed in an air strike, but Nigeria’s military denied them and said it had no evidence of her death. The family says it has never been shown independent proof that she is alive or dead. Rumours that she had been forced into marriage with a fighter have also not been independently verified.
Campaign for her freedom
Successive Nigerian governments have said they are making efforts to secure Leah’s release but have offered few public details. Security analysts say her case may be entangled in complex negotiations with Islamist factions that have themselves split and shifted alliances. In 2021 the US Commission on International Religious Freedom repeatedly urged Nigeria to do more, and the hashtag #FreeLeahSharibu has marked every anniversary of her abduction.
Her parents, who live in Yobe state, have remained outspoken despite health problems stemming from years of trauma. At an event in 2023 marking five years since her kidnapping, Rebecca Sharibu said the family had ‘run out of human options’ and was leaving the situation entirely in God’s hands.
Leah is now believed to be about 21 years old. The international advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide, which has campaigned for her release, described her as a ‘symbol of courage and resilience’. Nigerian officials have not confirmed whether any prisoner swap or ceasefire arrangement could allow her release.
For the Sharibu family, the practical uncertainty has not weakened their attachment to hope. As Nathan Sharibu put it in one of his appeals: ‘We are still waiting for her. We will not lose faith.’