Kidnapping of school girls pathetic - Sika Osei

The mass abduction of over 200 Nigerian school girls and their continuous detention has received disapproval across the world with ‘Africa’s Sweetheart’ Sika Osei calling for a more intense condemnation of the incident until the captives are freed.

Sika, host of Studio 53 Extra on DSTV 151, in adding her voice to the global call for the immediate release of the innocent school girls, said prayers should not be left out.

“We must all continue to condemn it and pray for their release. It is so pathetic that people have no regard for human life and find it okay to play with the lives of innocent little girls for their own political gratification…Even the circumstances around their abduction is suspicious. Surely Boko Haram has links in higher places even to be able to move over 200 girls across the border in a place where a state of emergency has been declared,” Sika told NEWS-ONE.

On April 14, armed Boko Haram militants fighting for an Islamist state in Nigeria invaded a girls’ secondary school in the north-eastern part of the country and stole away some 276 girls who were writing exams. Some managed to escape leaving behind well over 200 girls.

Reuters on Monday said a leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, had offered to return the abducted girls in exchange for prisoners, according to a video seen on YouTube.

It said the 17-minute video showed the girls wearing veils and praying at a yet to be identified location. In a portion on the video, Abubakar Shekau was seen holding an AK-47 and laughing while he gave clear orders in a very confident tone.

“All I am saying is that if you want us to release the girls that we have kidnapped, those who have not accepted Islam will be treated as the Prophet (Mohammed) treated infidels and they will stay with us,” he said, according to a translation of his words originally spoken in Hausa.

Sika, obviously heartbroken by the development and continuous detention of the innocent girls said the world should not continue to be passive observers of the ongoing crime against humanity but rather make a concerted effort at getting the girls freed and alive.