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Abuja rage as Boko Haram kill another aid worker

Tuesday October 16 2018
Liman

Ms Hauwa Liman. PHOTO | BBC

By MOHAMMED MOMOH

Nigeria has expressed outrage at the killing of another aid worker by the Boko Haram group, after failed efforts to assuage the jihadists.

The Boko Haram faction, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), claimed responsibility for the death of Ms Hauwa Liman, a staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Information minister Lai Mohammed described the killing as dastardly, inhuman and ungodly.

He said the government was shocked and saddened by the killing of the aid worker, despite the actions it took and the widespread appeal to save the young woman.

“It is very unfortunate that it has come to this,” Mr Mohammed said on Monday night when the news of the killing hit the airwaves.

Innocent people

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“Before and after the deadline issued by her abductors, the Federal Government did everything any responsible government should do to save the aid worker.”

The minister said nothing could justify the shedding of the blood of innocent people.

He also thanked all the friendly governments and the clerics across religious lines, that have continued to work with Nigeria for the safe release of the abducted women.

The ISWAP faction abducted three staff of ICRC in March and killed one of the women, Ms Saifura Ahmed, last month.

The terrorists killed the second, Ms Liman, after a deadline they gave to the Federal Government to meet their demands expired on Monday.

To be enslaved

“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 Boko Haram said in a release late Monday.

Meanwhile, the insurgents have also threatened to enslave Leah Shuaribu, one of the schoolgirls abducted in Dapchi in Yobe State on February 19.

Also to be enslaved is the remaining aid worker, Ms Alice Ngaddah, a Christian who works with Unicef.

Leah is the only one out of the 110 girls abducted at the Dapchi Government Girls’ Science and Technical College, who refused to denounce Christianity.

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