“The girls that returned said Leah said she will not deny Christ or turn to be a Muslim” – Nathan Sharibu, Leah’s father.

The world is on that same path, the doomsday cycle that has caught every nation and will until the Lord comes and establishes the glory of His own Kingdom. In a divided world of dying nations and dying people and declining churches, it is not the best of time with the state of things in Nigeria. From the economic tension and high level of insecurity, the centre is not at ease in Nigeria. Nigeria navigates from one giant of problem to the other giants in flesh and blood, and in greed and corruption.

Nigeria is going through the sowing and reaping law. Sowing and reaping is a law of the spiritual and physical world. It is more than just an agricultural principle. It is an axiom of life that we reap what we sow. Apostle Paul says, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows” (Gal 6:7). There are natural consequences to our actions. The world operates under the law of cause and effect. There is no way around it: every time we choose an action, we also choose the consequences of that action. For over 60 years, we have chosen to export our crude oil in order to import refined oil for our domestic and commercial uses and ever since then we are subjected to fuel scarcity and underdevelopment. We cherished easy money and positions as source of livelihood. Our political elites under the yoke of do or die democracy equipped their tugs with weapons and at a point in time, the tugs became ethnic and religious militias like Boko Haran and Fulani herdsmen and are now beyond the control of their paymasters. They developed into flesh and blood giants, great in size and great in wickedness. Nigeria’s giants are becoming giants than Nigerian, stronger, faster and becoming something we don’t have the skill to face on our own. Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen are becoming giants with the potential to knock the nation down and beat us without hope of recovery. Nigerians, let us remember, giants are commanded by Satan the devil, the eternal enemy of God’s people, the arch enemy of Nigeria’s progress and prosperity.

The giants of Boko Haram and Fulani cattle herdsmen are virtually in every nooks and crannies of the federation: in the north, the South, the East and the West. According to report, ‘you will find them in all the six geo-political zones in Nigeria, killing and maiming fellow Nigerians with reckless abandon. The recent massive killings in Benue state allegedly orchestrated by the herdsmen speak volumes and still very fresh in the mind of many people.’ Most recently, on the evening of Monday 19, February, 2018, Boko Haram dressed in army fatigues stormed and abducted 110 students from the Government secondary school for girls in Dapchi, about 275 km (170 miles) north-west of Chibok where nearly 300 girls were abducted four years ago by the same Boko Haram. After almost a month, some of the Dapchi’s schoolgirls missing after a militant attack have been rescued, five dead and one by name Leah who refused to be converted to Islam is still in captivity. Her father, Nathan, a police officer, says he was told by the other girls released that Leah, 15, was left behind in a Boko Haram camp because she refused to renounce her Christian faith. “The girls that returned said Leah said she will not deny Christ or turn to be a Muslim,” Nathan and his wife, Rebecca expressed their fear about the safety of their daughter, they are “… more scared because now she’s the only girl with them … militants told the girls to forsake Western education for Islam while they were in captivity.” While in captivity, Boko Haram read the Quran to the abducted girls regularly with persuasion to forget the Western education for Islam. Nathan and Rebecca are now pleading that government should not give on their daughter, Leah.

Leah confession of Christian faith is a message both to her captors, the Nigerian government and Nigerian Christians. The story of Leah resonates with Daniel in the fiery furnace. If nothing is done to set her free, Leah’s blood is upon her captors, upon the Nigerian government and the church in Nigeria. Leah’s blood is holy. I pray Nigerian government will learn from the tragic story of Christiana Oluwatoyin Oluwasesin, who was brutally murdered and burnt to death on 21 March 2007 after a Muslim student falsely accused her of having torn a copy of the Quran. The student had been caught cheating in an exam at Gandu Government Day Secondary School, Gwandu, Northern Nigeria. It is reported that Oluwasesin had confiscated a paper with Arabic inscriptions which the student had hidden in a book. Despite another teacher showing that the book was not the Quran and had not been torn, a mob of students attacked Oluwasesin. Her blood is still crying over Nigeria. Toyin’s children and aged mother are still nursing their wounds.

While Leah represents the place of true leadership like Caleb and Joshua who saw the battle they could win, her captivity points to level of Christian persecution in Nigeria. Leah is not going to follow or give in to the giants of her life, even in their captivity. Leah is responding to life and trial through her eyes of faith and not fear. Leah’s theology and gospel summons Nigerians and especially the church to arise and say no to the giants over the affairs of Nigeria. Leah is becoming the face of Nigerian Christian in captivity, a proud faith that dared Boko Haram terrorists and Fulani herdsmen though feared by many Nigerians. As we intensify our prayers, the European Union renewed ‘solidarity with all the girls still held captive’ is a wake up call to the Nigerian government for the safe release of Leah. Let the Leah’s generation in Nigeria that are ready to sow and stand for righteousness arise, we are able to possess the land in Jesus name.

Prayer: O Lord of God, let Leah soon rejoice with her family and make her testimony a point of revival in Nigeria in Jesus’ name.