The secretary-general of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, NSCIA, Professor Ishaq Olanrewaju Oloyede has revealed that the organisation reached out to Boko Haram over the prolonged captivity of Leah Sharibu.

Speaking at the Point Newspaper’s annual Ramadan lecture on Monday, Oloyede disclosed that the council had opened a channel of communication with the terrorist organization on the matter. He expressed shock over the threat issued by the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, over Sharibu’s captivity.

He said: “The unfortunate abduction of Leah and other girls, both Muslims and Christians, is intensely hurtful to all right-thinking persons. I am aware that the particular case of Leah made the leadership of the NSCIA reach out to all possible channels of reaching the group with a proposal to secure amnesty for the group provided Leah and other girls in captivity are released and the group surrender their arms. This knowledge made the careless threat particularly painful.”

“The Christian Association of Nigeria recently escalated the state of insecurity with its threat that should Leah Sharibu die in captivity of Boko Haram, there would be a religious war. I am as astonished as the Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, who recently expressed shock at the destructive and counter-productive statement.”
“Boko Haram has never hidden its mission of setting Nigeria ablaze through a religious war. Whose interest was the call to serve? Definitely, not that of the innocent Nigerian lady, Leah Sharibu.”

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