The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a faction of Boko Haram, has executed Hauwa Liman, 24, a second nurse working with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) after a deadline it gave for the release of their members in Nigerian custody expired midnight Monday 15 October.
A short video of the execution circulating online showed the moment of her execution as the young “Liman was forced to kneel down, with her hands tied inside a white hijab which has a crest symbol, and then shot at a close range.”
Liman was kidnapped in Rann, Borno state by the terrorists in March this year along with Saifura Ahmed, who herself was executed by the group in September, in addition to one other medical worker still in captivity
The terrorists said in a short statement it released, “We have kept our word exactly as we said, by killing another humanitarian worker, Hauwa Liman, who is working with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that were abducted during a raid on a military facility in Rann, Kala Balge in March 2018”.
“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 group added.
“If we see them, we will kill the apostates among them, men or women, and chose to kill or keep the infidels as slaves, men or women.”
Plea For Mercy
The armed group had earlier released a video message in which it threatened the execution of another captive if their conditions for prisoner swap was not met. The ICRC begged the hostage takers to “show mercy”, then desperately turned to the Nigerian authorities for assistance to quickly rescue the girls – to no avail.
The armed group is still also holding 15-year-old Christian schoolgirl, Leah Sharibu, the only girl still with the insurgents from the group of girls abducted in February from Dapchi in Yobe state, among many other captives. They said they were unwilling to release Leah for refusing to disavow her faith and convert to Islam.
Nigerian Government Reacts
The Nigerian government has reacted by expressing shock and sadness at the killings despite what it claimed were “actions taken by the government” and the widespread appeal to save the young woman.
A statement issued in faraway London on Monday by Segun Adeyemi, Special Adviser to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, described the killing as “dastardly, inhuman and ungodly”, saying nothing would justify the shedding of the blood of the innocent.
Mohammed said the Federal Government did all within its powers to save her life, saying, “It is very unfortunate that it has come to this. Before and after the deadline issued by her abductors, the Federal Government did everything any responsible government should do to save the aid worker.”
His statement adds, “As we have been doing since these young women were abducted, we kept the line of negotiations open all through. In all the negotiations, we acted in the best interest of the women and the country as a whole.
”We are deeply pained by this killing, just like we were by the recent killing of the first aid worker. However, we will keep the negotiations open and continue to work to free the innocent women who remain in the custody of their abductors.”
Tens of thousands of people have been killed since the crises started in 2009, although it morphed into a bloody insurgency since 2011 when Goodluck Jonathan, an Ijaw from the minority southern tribes won election as president, giving the conflict then a political coloration. No one has explained the exact motives of this insurgency that has taken so many lives, nor the sources of its funding and elaborate logistics. The insurgents have defied two Nigerian administrations, including that of the current president, Muhammadu Buhari, a former army general from the northwestern mostly muslim region, who came to power in 2015 primarily based on the expectation he will crush the terrorists.
At least 4 million Nigerians have been displaced with most of them in IDP camps across the troubled nation.
