Video: How Leah Sharibu’s Mother Marked Her 22nd Birthday

Leah Sharibu’s mother has commemorated her daughter’s 22nd birthday with a symbolic cake-cutting, praying she will celebrate in person next year.

Mrs. Rebecca Sharibu, the mother of Leah Sharibu—the Christian schoolgirl who has remained in Boko Haram captivity since 2018—has marked her daughter’s 22nd birthday with a solemn gesture of hope and longing.

The day also marks Leah’s seventh year in captivity.

In a video circulating across Nigerian news media platforms, Mrs. Sharibu was seen placing a birthday cake on a small stool in her sitting room. Her voice, filled with emotion, recalled the last time she celebrated Leah’s birthday: “I said ‘happy birthday to you’ for her, and she was very happy for that.”

Before cutting the cake, she made a prayerful declaration: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, I am cutting this cake on behalf of Leah, and I believe that she will be the one to cut it herself next year.”

The brief ceremony concluded with a heartfelt appeal to the public: a call for solidarity and action. She pleaded with Nigerians and the international community to join hands in efforts to bring Leah back home.

Leah Sharibu was among the 110 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram from Government Girls’ Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State, on February 19, 2018. While most of the girls were released shortly after, Leah—then 14 years old—was held back reportedly because she refused to renounce her Christian faith. Since then, she has remained in captivity, becoming a symbol of resilience, faith, and the ongoing struggle against terrorism in Nigeria.

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