ICC, a non-partisan charitable organisation focused on human rights, religious freedom and assisting the persecuted Christian Church, told Vanguard: “Boko Haram must be destroyed in order to ensure that this doesn’t keep happening, but the government must first stop lying by saying that they have already won.”
On Boko Haram’s vow to keep Alice and Leah Sharibu as slaves for life, Miller said: ”This means that they are likely going to keep them permanently. They are saying that they will no longer accept any ransom or rewards for them, but will likely use them for work, force them to convert to Islam, and probably rape and beat them.
“Eventually, they will probably sell them to a rich Muslim man, who will force them to marry and own them. These are all things that Boko Haram is well known for doing to young women.
“My only hope is that they are just using this to try and get more money from the government. This would mean that there is still a chance that they can be saved.”
Asked to offer words of consolation to the mother of Leah Sharibu, the ICC official said: “They miss their daughter greatly and they cannot do anything to get her back themselves.
“The only thing we can do for them is pray and advocate for Leah and their family.”