Boko Haram kills another health worker, Leman
The Boko Haram faction, which goes by the name Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), had killed Hauwa Leman, an aide worker with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Leman was abducted alongside other health workers in March, this year, in Rann, Borno State. Another health worker, Saifura Ahmed, was killed nearly a month ago by the insurgents over alleged failure of the Nigerian authorities to meet their demands.
A short video released by the group showed how Leman, who was clad in white hijab, was shot at close range. Her hands were tied to her back and asked to kneel down.
In a statement issued in London yesterday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, described the killing as “dastardly, inhuman and ungodly.”
“It is very unfortunate that it has come to this,” he said. “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.
The ISWAP had stepped up offensive in the Lake Chad region in northern part of Borno State, with sources saying the development followed the execution of their leader, Mamman Nur, by some dissidents who felt aggrieved by his approach to leadership.
“Among other things, the dissidents who are now in control of ISWAP are demanding huge ransom from the Nigeria government to release the health workers and other captives…They killed Saifura in September to show the level of their cruelty and desperation to get money and they repeated same with Leman today (yesterday),” he said.
The ISWAP said they would keep Leah Sharibu, one of the 110 Dapchi schoolgirls in their captivity as “a slave for life.” The group also said Alice Ngaddah, a Christian who works with UNICEF before she was captured would also be kept as a slave.
“Sharibu is a treasured captive to them…The terrorists know that Nigerian Government will do everything it takes to secure her release because of some reasons,” he said.
Hauwa Leman was a 24-year-old midwife and student of health education at the University of Maiduguri who was kidnapped in Rann during a siege by the Boko Haram that led to the death of four soldiers, four policemen and three humanitarian aid workers.