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Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2020 --- 21
Leah Sharibu:
Why FG should do more
— CAN Woman Leader
Pastor Dr. Mrs Mabel Oyin Sowoolu is CAN Woman Leader and
former president of the Women Wing of Christian Association of
Nigeria, WOWICAN. In this interview with WO, she speaks on the
negative effect of the circumstances surrounding Leah Sharibu’s
purported birth of a child fathered by one of the commanders of the
Boko Haram insurgents. According to her, the federal government
should be held responsible regarding the plight of Nigerian girls
especially Leah Sharibu.
By Ebunoluwa Sessou
There are reports that
abducted Leah Sharibu
gave birth to a baby for
one of the Boko Haram
commanders. In your own view
as a mother and as one of the
leaders in the Christian
Association of Nigeria and by
and large Christian community,
what is your position on this?
As a mother and grandmother, a
spiritual leader and a woman, if it is
true, it is a serious matter and very
unfortunate. If something happens to
one person and you feel nothing has
happened until it affects you, you will
not understand what it is. If it is true,
the government has so many
questions to answer from God. They
have questions to answer from God
or what do you expect such a girl to
do in that situation. It is either they
kill her or make her do what they
wanted. For me, it is like a dream
because what the federal government
told us last was that she would soon
be released. And now, she is carrying
a baby. Even if we have no power over
the perpetrators of such evil, God in
heaven will make His judgment. They
will not go unpunished. All the
spirits, all mothers are crying
because if it is true, the perpetrators
will never go unpunished. The Lord
who makes heaven and earth will
ensure that they really suffer for the
act. It is not a matter of having a baby.
She is under serious emotional stress,
and you know what that means. How
old is she that she should undergo
such emotional stress? We are
praying that God Almighty will
judge those who have put that girl
in such a situation. She is a
Nigerian who has the right to
religion.
One will assume that
Christian leaders would
have put some
machinery in place
especially after the
assurances given by the
federal government
that Leah Sharibu
would be released, until
this recent report?
The Christian
Association of Nigeria
tried her best. We did all
we could. The government
is not just responsive and
it is a bad omen for us as
Nigerians. The Save Our
Girls group also did her
best. There are
communiqués about Leah
Sharibu released by CAN.
CAN in the Northern states
did; CAN in Nigeria as a nation
did. We have never kept quiet
about it.
Peradventure the story
is false, what do you think
the government should
do?
Whether it is true or not, the
point is that they should
ensure the release of the girl.
If it is true and she is not out by now,
maybe, the government is
trying to feel the pulse
of the masses before
they do what they
want to do. If it is
true, let them bring
out the girl, enough
is enough.
We are
talking
about Leah Sharibu yet we still have
the Chibok girls in Boko Haram
custody, what do you think Nigerians
or Nigeria government should be
doing right now?
We all know what they should be
doing. If they are ready, they should
ensure that the Chibokgirls are
released. They should explore every
avenue to get the girls out of the place.
Look, it is not a good omen at all. We
By Josephine Agbonkhese
NIGERIANS were disappointed last Sunday
when at the 2020 Grammys in Los Angeles,
USA, Beninese singer-songwriter and actress,
Angelique Kidjo, was announced winner of the
World Music Album category for which one of their
indigenous music stars, Burna Boy, was also
nominated alongside three others.
That was
Kidjo‘s fourth
Grammy win in
n i n e
nominations;
first of which
came in 1995 with her
first Grammy coming 12
years later when she won
the Best Contemporary
World Music category. It
would have been the first for
Burna Boy though—and of
course his first Grammy
nomination too; a feat made
possible by his fourth album
‘African Giant’ in which,
interestingly, he collaborated with
Kidjo on a track entitled ‘Different’.
While Nigerian music lovers still
feel defrauded by the Record
Academy as they couldn’t see any
reason their homeboy to whom
should all put ourselves in their
position. These girls did not bargain
for what they are currently passing
through or prepare for what they
got themselves into, neither did
their parents did. An adage says,
a child is dead is better than a
child is missing. If the child
is dead, we will know she is
dead not the one we do not
know her where about. The
government will say, it is not
easy but I know, it is what
they can do. As much as we
are all praying for the
successful return of the girls, it is
unfortunate, that the government has
been negative about the responses.
And that is the truth.
We all know that release of
victims of Boko Haram
insurgents attracts negotiation,
do you think, government will
be doing the right thing in
terms of negotiation?
I do not think negotiation
should be a problem for
responsible government. As
long as it is to secure the
release of those girls,
government should do
everything possible to get
them released. We are
talking about innocent lives
that money cannot buy.
These people are using
millions of naira to acquire
wealth, why can’t they safe lives? Is it
a sin to be girls; is it a sin to be a
woman? God created us. Any money
spent to get these children back is
money well spent. And I know that is
the view of every good mother.
There seems to be
reinforcement of the operations
Continues on page 22
Meet female Beninese Angelique Kidjo who
dashed Nigerians’ hope at the 2020 Grammys
Kidjo dedicated her award lost the
Grammy, we bring you a few things you
probably didn’t know about four-time
Grammy award winner, Angelique
Kidjo—plus perhaps why her album,
‘Celia’, won over others in the Best World
Music Album category.
*Kidjo was born in Ouidah, Benin,
on July 14, 1960, to a Beninese father
and Yoruba mother.
*At age six, she was already
performing with her mother’s theatre
troupe. That gave her an early
appreciation for traditional music and
dance, so much that in school, she joined
her school band, Les Sphinx, and soon
found success as a teenager with her
adaptation of Miriam Makeba’s “Les
Trois Z”, which played on national radio.
*She grew up listening to Beninese
traditional music, Fela Kuti, Miriam
Makeba, Hugh Masekela, James
Brown, Manu Dibango, Otis
Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie
Wonder, Osibisa, Celia Cruz and
Santana.
*The success of her first album,
‘Pretty’, which was recorded with a
Cameroonian, earned her a tour of West
Africa until political conflicts in Benin
led her to relocate to Paris in 1983.
Continues on Page 25