This screengrab taken on August 8, 2016 from a Boko Haram video released by the Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram and obtained by AFP shows Boko Haram’s shadowy leader Abubakar Shekau as he appeares in a new video vowing to fight on, shrugging off an apparent split in the hardline jihadist group blamed for thousands of deaths since 2009. “I… Abubakar Ash-Shakawy (Shekau), the leader of Jama’atu Ahlissunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad, made it a duty for myself (to fight) Nigeria and the whole world,” Shekau said in the video released on August 7, 2016, using the group’s name since it declared allegiance to the so-called Islamic State. Vanguard
…Calls for Rescue of Leah Sharibu
Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, President of the Senate, has condemned the killing of Saifura Hussaini Ahmed Khorsa – the humanitarian worker from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) – by Boko Haram terrorists.
In a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media & Publicity Yusuph Olaniyonu, in Abuja, Saraki stated that the killing of aid workers represents a new low by Boko Haram insurgents, while calling for immediate action by the military to ensure that Leah Sharibu and the other two Red Cross workers still in Boko Haram’s captivity are released.
Saraki said: “My thoughts and prayers are with the family and loved ones of Saifura Hussaini Ahmed Khorsa — the young 25-year old female international aid worker who was abducted and killed by Boko Haram.
“Such horrific actions have no place in Nigeria. I join all Nigerians and the international community in condemning this killing in the strongest possible terms.
“The killing of aid workers, who choose to go into troubled spots, both in Nigeria and around the world, represents a new low by the insurgents, as humanitarian workers are some of the most courageous and selfless people on the planet.
“Additionally, the continued abduction of the late Saifura’s ICRC colleagues, Hauwa and Alice, by the militants, alongside the captivity of the young Dapchi schoolgirl, Leah Sharibu, must end.
“I call on our brave servicemen and women on the frontlines to do all that they can to protect the rescue workers on the ground and employ every God-given resource that is available to us to rescue Leah Sharibu and the ICRC humanitarian workers.
“We will continue to support the government, to ensure that peace and security are restored in the North-east,” Saraki said.
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