Breaking: Boko Haram Carries Out Threat, Executes Second Captured Aid Worker

Malik Yahya/

Boko Haram, has executed Hauwa Leman, an aide worker with the International Committee of the Red Cross, The Cable reports.

The execution was carried out by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a faction of Boko Haram.

In a short clip, Leman was forced to kneel down, with her hands tied inside a white hijab which has a crest symbol, and then shot at a close range.

In September 2018, the insurgent group killed Saifura Ahmed, one of the three humanitarian workers abducted in Rann, Kala Balge local government area of Borno state, in March 2018, in a similar manner.

Leman, a 24-year-old midwife and student of health education at the University of Maiduguri, was in the group that was abducted.

Four soldiers, four policemen and three humanitarian aid workers were killed in the attack.

ISWAP, in a short statement, said: “We have kept our word exactly as we said, by killing another humanitarian worker, Hauwa Leman, who is working with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that were abducted during a raid on a military facility in Rann, Kala Balge in March 2018.

“Saifura and Hauwa were killed because they are considered as Murtads (apostates) by the group because they were once Muslims that have abandoned their Islam, the moment they chose to work with the Red Cross, and for us, there is no difference between Red Cross and UNICEF.

“If we see them, we will kill the apostates among them, men or women, and chose to kill or keep the infidels as slaves, men or women.”

According to the report, the terrorists also promised to keep Leah Sharibu, the Dapchi schoolgirl, as “a slave for life”.

Leah is the only Christian among the 110 girls abducted at the Government Girls’ Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe state, on February 19, 2018.

While other girls were released, she was kept back because she refused to renounce her Christian faith.

There has been a global plea for her release.

The group said in the statement that Alice Ngaddah, a Christian who works with UNICEF, will also be kept as a slave.

“From today”, ISWAP said, Sharibu, 15, and Ngaddah, a mother of two, “are now our slaves”.

“Based on our doctrines, it is now lawful for us to do whatever we want to do with them,” the group further said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had yesterday called for the Nigerian government’s speedy intervention to save Leman after the terrorist group gave a 24-hour deadline to eliminate her.

Mr Mamadou Sow, Head of ICRC’s Operations in the Lake Chad Basin, in an SOS, appealed to the Nigerian Government, communities and individuals towards the release of the two medical workers, Hauwa and Alice.

“To the holder of these kidnapped women, we urge you for mercy. We urge you not to kill another innocent healthcare worker, who was doing nothing but helping the community in north-east Nigeria,” he said.

Watch the video of the appeal:

ow.ly/uIAW30mdVwf

Sow noted that Hauwa worked in a hospital supported by the ICRC when she was abducted on March 1, 2018, with Alice, a nurse who worked in a centre supported by UNICEF.

He added, “Hauwa and Alice are medical workers, who chose to work and help vulnerable communities in Rann, an area heavily affected by violence.

“The town’s population has more than doubled because of the conflict, while most local healthcare staff have fled. These women were providing essential and life-saving services to thousands of people, displaced and residents alike. All they sought to do was help.”

According to him, the third health care worker abducted alongside Hauwa and Alice was ICRC colleague, Saifura Hussaini, who was killed by her abductors in September.

Sow urged those involved with this case to do everything they could to avoid a repeat of that devastating outcome.

He noted that Leah Sharibu, a 15-year-old school student, was taken from her school in Dapchi, in a separate abduction incident in February.

He, however, added that she was also being held by the same armed group and everything must be done to ensure her prompt and unharmed release.

The Director of ICRC Operations in Africa, Patricia Danzi, also urged the Federal Government to work towards the release of the innocent spirited individuals.

“We urge you to spare and release these women. They are a midwife, a nurse and a student. Like all those abducted, they are not part of any fight.

“They are daughters and sisters; one is a mother, women with their future ahead of them, children to raise, and families to return to,” she said.

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