Brutal murder of Hauwa Liman – Daily Trust

Shock, consternation and outrage together gripped Nigeria on October 15 when Boko Hara’s Mamman Nur faction, which goes by the name Islamic State West Africa Province [ISWAP] shot dead Hauwa Leman, an aide worker with the International Committee of the Red Cross [ICRC] who was abducted alongside other health workers from Rann, Borno State in March this year.
The killing, which occurred after the expiration of the terrorist group’s October 14 deadline, came nearly a month after another health worker, Saifura Ahmed was killed by the same Boko Haram faction over alleged failure of Nigerian authorities to meet their demands. A short video released by the group showed how Liman, clad in white hijab was shot at close range. ICRC’s regional director for Africa Patricia Danzi described Hauwa Liman’s murder as “a despicable act of cruelty.” She said, “The news of Hauwa’s death has broken our hearts. We appealed for mercy and an end to such senseless murders. How can it be that two female health care workers were killed back-to-back? Nothing can justify this.”
“Hauwa and Saifura’s deaths are not only a tragedy for their families, but they will also be felt by thousands of people in Rann and other conflict-affected areas of north-east Nigeria where accessing health care remains a challenge. We urge the group holding Alice and Leah to release them safely,” she said. President Muhammadu Buhari, who spoke on phone to Hauwa’s father Mohammed Liman, commiserated with the family and told the bereaved father that government did everything possible to save his daughter’s life. He expressed sadness that all the efforts made were unsuccessful. The presidency’s statement said Buhari regretted that the late midwife’s commitment to helping victims of Boko Haram insurgency ended in such a brutal way.
The killing of Hauwa and Saifura were tragedies not only for their immediate families but tragedies also for thousands of people in Rann and other conflict-affected areas of north-east Nigeria where they were working so selflessly to provide badly needed health care. The terrorist ISWAP group gave shallow, repugnant and incomprehensible reasons for the dastardly acts. “We have kept our word exactly as we said by killing another humanitarian worker, Hauwa Liman,” it said in a short video clip. “Saifura and Hauwa were killed because they are considered as Murtads (apostates) 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 terrorists were not telling the whole truth in the matter because reports had it that ISWAP demanded a huge ransom from the Federal Government for the release of all the girls in their captivity, which was not made. This was why they killed the Muslims among the captives, strongly believing that there would be pressure in many quarters for the Federal Government to meet up with their demands so that the remaining girls would be released.
ISWAP said it would keep Leah Sharibu, one of the original 110 Dapchi schoolgirls in their captivity, as a slave for life. The group also said Alice Ngaddah, a Christian who works with UNICEF before she was seized, would also be kept as a slave. We join the rest of the world in condemning the brutal killings of these innocent girls and hundreds of others whose ordeals are hardly heard. We call on our security forces to redouble their efforts towards ending the murderous insurgency in the North East.
Even though government has not, for obvious security reasons, disclosed the sticking point in ISWAP’s demands, we believe the authorities are amenable to negotiating the release of all the people in Boko Haram captivity. However, we do not expect government to accept conditions that will constitute a setback to the war against terrorism, such as mass release of terrorist leaders in captivity. We mourn the deaths of these innocent and selfless young women. We are confident that their deaths will not be in vain.