How Christian Dapchigirl Attempted To Escape From Boko Haram, Dapchigirls Narrate

Still-held-captive Leah Sharibu, the christian Dapchi girl who was said to have refused to denounce her religion had been revealed to have tried to escape the den of abductors, Boko Haram before the intention & release of others.

The Federal Government was able to receive 105 abducted girls from Dapchi from Boko Haram recently while five others died there but the lone Christian girl was held back on the basis of her different religion, report said.

While two Dapchi girls were speaking with the UK Guardian, one of them revealed that Leah Sharibu had once made attempt to leave beforehand with other classmates, Maryam and Amira but got unfortunate to be brought back to captives by a family who hosted them in their course.

“We thought she was just going round the corner, but she sneaked out along with (the other two classmates),” Aisha Ibiwa, one of the released girls said.

Hajara Adamu, another of Leah’s friends, recalled: “The Fulani man (from the family) said to them, ‘so you are the missing girls that we’ve heard about on the radio.’ He gave them a jerrycan filled with cow’s milk and brought them back.”

“Leah and her group weren’t flogged. They [Boko Haram] said it was because they had suffered a lot while trying to escape.”

Adamu said she had also tried to escape but suffered same fate as Sharibu.

She added that the insurgents laughed at them for attempting to escape, mocking them that “we wanted to go back to the land of unbelievers.”

While in custody, the girls recalled that one of the Boko Haram leaders whom they knew as “the Khalifa” came to see them every week.

During those visits, he was said to have told them they would not stay for too long in custody.

“We don’t have any issue with you – our issue is with the government,” he had told them, according to Adamu. “They’ve taken our men. Don’t worry, you’ll all go home soon.”

“He’d take off his balaclava and say: ‘You shouldn’t go back to Nigeria. It’s a country of sinners and unbelievers. When you go back, convince your parents to come back here to the Islamic caliphate with you.”