Leah Sharibu's mother is trying to sue the Federal Government for the negligence in handling her daughter's case.
Leah Sharibu is the most popular and astute young girl across the world at this moment because she refused to renounce her faith.
It’s just a shame that she is not around to collect her accolades. She stuck to her guns till the very end, damn the circumstances.
Who is Leah Sharibu?
She is the 15-year old daughter of Rebecca Sharibu and Nathan Sharibu of Dapchi, Yobe State, Nigeria.
She is the girl who refused to renounce her Christian faith in the face of danger and threat to life. She is a national hero.
She was one of the 113 girls taken hostage on February 19, 2018 at Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe by terrorists who brought 18 trucks, loaded with heavy artillery.
After weeks of negotiations, 107 of the 113 girls were released. While Khadija Grema, one of the released girls told Channels that five of the girls died of stress-related issues, Leah was held back because she refused to renounce her Christian faith.
Today, September 26, 2018, news broke that Leah’s mother, Rebecca Sharibu filed a suit at the Lagos State Federal High Court on September 19, 2018.
The named defendants in the suit were Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, demanding N500 million in compensation.
Her grounds for complaint were that these powerful institutions failed to ensure the safety of her daughter.
Who are human rights activists?
They are simply the people who fight for the rights of people, usually pro bono or for a fee upon the success of the suit, which means no guarantees.
They have a passion for setting wrongs right and it has helped people in the past. A major activist in Nigeria is Chief Femi Falana and another is Festus Keyamo.
The legal clinic by BudgIT, Citizen Gavel, ran by the young Lawyer, Nelson Olanipekun has done well, but they have neither the means nor the pedigree to do what senior Lawyers can do.
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The days of the real ones are numbered, nigh gone
However, it seems the days of the human rights activist like the late legal pillar, Chief Gani Fawehinmi who went against the federal powers, shaking tables from Lagos to Timbuktu are far gone.
The problem seems to be that people are content with doing the ones they can and leaving the rest to fate and I don't blame them, Nigeria is hard enough as it is.
However, someone has to fight for the little guy who has nothing while staring down a barrel of uncertainty, he might or might not be guilty of.
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Even worse, the little guy who has been wronged by ‘powers that be’ needs a legal force backing him, so he gets what belongs to him.
Fawehinmi was a notorious force that ensured people got theirs, to the best of his ability and it held him back in his personal goals and life, even got imprisoned several times by the Military Governments.
If he were alive and in his prime, he would have sued the governmental powers on behalf of Leah Sharibu’s family a long time ago.
The world misses the late, great and influential Lawyer who wanted to help people, regardless of the consequences, even on himself.
He would have made the federal government feel the heat and might even have attracted international attention to the matter, piling pressure on the government.
It is a matter that would have made a stronger reaction long before September. Not that this current suit will achieve nothing, but who backed it?
If a pivotal Lawyer would throw their weight behind it, it would definitely shake a few tables.
But now, it probably would die a lukewarm death, even though it is or guaranteed. Passion could help the Lawyers who aided Rebecca Sharibu.
The problem with the continued lack of human right activists is self-preservation by Lawyers who would rather preserve themselves for cheap political favours that do things worthwhile.
It is the nonsense we get served. I don’t blame them however, not everybody will be like Baba Gani, who constantly risked it all, even his life.
These days, we would rather let evil through to have a field day than attempt stop it, regardless of who backs it. We will all die, and nothing is given.
On August 27, 2018, Leah appealed to President Buhari to secure her freedom.
"I am Leah Sharibu, the girl that was abducted in GGSS Dapchi. I am calling on the government and people of goodwill to intervene to get me out of my current situation.
"I am begging you to treat me with compassion, I am calling on the government, particularly, the president to pity me and get me out of this serious situation," she pleaded.
After killing another captive, a nurse, recently, the Boko Haram faction holding Leah Sharibu have threatened to kill her in a month if the government does not respond to it.
"The other nurse and midwife will be executed in similar manner in one month, including Leah Sharibu," a terrorist spokesman had said.
Still, nothing has been done.
Why are we not doing something worthwhile with our status? Senior Nigerian Lawyers can do better.
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