A faction of Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), has executed another aid worker with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Hauwa Leman, who was abducted in March this year.
The terrorists killed her after a deadline they gave to the Federal Government to meet their demands expired, online news organisation, according to TheCable.
The online platform, which said its correspondent saw a clip of the execution, quoted ISWAP as saying, “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.”
The Federal Government has condemned the killing which comes less than a month after the terrorists murdered another aid worker – Saifura Ahmed – who was abducted along with Leman and another of their colleagues.
In a statement issued in London on Monday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, described the killing as dastardly, inhuman and ungodly.
According to him, the government is shocked and saddened at the killing of the aid worker by the insurgents, despite the actions taken by the government and the widespread appeal to save the young woman.
“It is very unfortunate that it has come to this,” he decried. “Before and after the deadline issued by her abductors, the Federal Government did everything any responsible government should do to save the aid worker.”
Mohammed added, “As we have been doing since these young women were abducted, we kept the line of negotiations open all through. In all the negotiations, we acted in the best interest of the women and the country as a whole.”
”We are deeply pained by this killing, just like we were by the recent killing of the first aid worker. However, we will keep the negotiations open and continue to work to free the innocent women who remain in the custody of their abductors.”
The minister commiserated with the family of the slain aid worker, saying the government did all within its powers to save her life.
He also thanked all the friendly governments that have continued to work with Nigeria for the safe release of the abducted women, as well as the clerics across religious lines who have been pleading for their release.
The killing of the aid worker comes a day after the ICRC made an appeal to the Nigerian government to help secure the release of both aid workers in captivity along with Leah Sharibu before the deadline expires.
Meanwhile, the insurgents have threatened to enslave Leah and the remaining aide worker, Alice Ngaddah, a Christian who works with UNICEF, according to TheCable.
Leah is the only one out of the 110 girls abducted at the Government Girls’ Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe state, on February 19, 2018, who is still in captivity.
She was held back by the terrorists for refusing to renounce her faith.
Information minister Lai Mohammed did not identify the victim but described the killing as “dastardly, inhuman and ungodly”, and vowed to push for the release of two remaining female captives — an aid worker and a 15-year-old girl — held since earlier this year.
Three female health workers were kidnapped during a Boko Haram raid on the remote town of Rann, in Borno state, on March 1 that killed three other aid workers and eight Nigerian soldiers.
Two of the kidnapped women, Hauwa Liman and Saifura Khorsa, worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross, while the third, Alice Loksha, worked for the UN children’s agency, UNICEF.
There had been no news of the trio until last month when the ICRC said it had received footage of Khorsa’s killing from the IS-backed Boko Haram faction Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
ISWAP then threatened to kill Liman and Loksha, as well as the teenager Leah Sharibu, a Christian schoolgirl kidnapped from the town of Dapchi in February.
The ICRC last weekend appealed for the captives’ release and for the jihadists to show mercy, as they were “doing nothing but helping communities” in the conflict-riven region.
Information minister Mohammed said the government was “shocked and saddened” at the unjustified killing, and extended his condolences to the woman’s family.
“It is very unfortunate that it has come to this. Before and after the deadline issued by her abductors, the Federal Government did everything any responsible government should do to save the aid worker,” he added.
“As we have been doing since these young women were abducted, we kept the line of negotiations open all through. In all the negotiations, we acted in the best interest of the women and the country as a whole.
“We are deeply pained by this killing, just like we were by the recent killing of the first aid worker.
“However, we will keep the negotiations open and continue to work to free the innocent women who remain in the custody of their abductors.”
More than 27,000 people have been killed in northeast Nigeria since the Boko Haram insurgency began in 2009, while nearly two million others remain homeless.
Nigeria’s military and government maintain the Islamist rebels are weakened to the point of defeat but fighters from the IS-backed faction have conducted repeated raids on military bases in recent months.
TheCable/AFP/Punch/Channels TV
