The Guardian newspaper has named Boko Haram captive Leah Sharibu its 2018 Person of the Year.
The newspaper on Tuesday, in its first edition of 2019, termed the young Sharibu a ‘goddess of resistance.’
The 14-year-old was abducted with 109 other girls of the Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State on February 19, 2018 just as the students were ready for dinner.
Of the 110 girls abducted, five died in captivity while 104 were released on March 20, 2018.
Leah Sharibu alone was not released because she refused to renounce her faith and convert to Islam as demanded by her captors.
“Still in captivity till date, despite President Muhammadu Buhari’s acceptance of our charge to do everything to free her, she has since become the symbol of Nigeria’s refusal to give in to agents of darkness, hell-bent on dividing the country and appropriating a section of the nation’s territory unto themselves.
“Leah is teaching the nation that one could suffer, even die, by having the courage of his or her convictions but that there is a fate much worse: non-fidelity to any ideals.
“Indeed, her story teaches her beleaguered nation that even in these seemingly dark, uncertain hours, there is still enough light of courage and character by which to find our way home.
“Leah Sharibu’s fate today is not enviable. Hers is a hard place no one wants to be in. But she is in a high place, in the hearts of humanity, in the best chapters of history today and in the future.
“She is a true heroine. And for being the goddess of a nation’s resistance to terror, she is The Guardian’s Person of the Year 2018,” the newspaper wrote.
Leah Sharibu has also been named #KakaakiSocial Person of the Year 2018.
