Archbishop Of Canterbury Says He Has Spoken To Buhari About Leah

Archbishop Justin Shelby should emulate Archbishop courageous Archbishops Desmond Tutu, Adetiloye & Ben Kwashi

The letter below was sent to the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury in reply to his response to an appeal for Leah by Human Rights lawyer, Emmanuel Ogebe earlier this week:

Dear Dominic Goodall,

Many thanks for your prompt response.

I am glad to note that His Grace Archbishop Justin has spoken to Gen. Buhari about Leah in a previous meeting. However advocacy for justice and the suffering is not a one-off thing. It’s an all season affair.

Leah’s stand for Christ was not one-time decision. She picks up her cross and dies daily as the good book wills us.

His Grace is reminded of men of the cloth in living memory who stood for just causes and paid steep prices for the good of all. In particular from the Anglican Communion is Archbishop Desmond Tutu whose legendary fight against apartheid in South Africa immortalized him till this day when even great world leaders Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan waffled on the wrong side of history.

Archbishop Adetiloye of Nigeria similarly answered my call and courageously stood and spoke truth to power and a brutal military dictatorship in Nigeria inspiring hope in millions.

Archbishop Ben Kwashi of Jos continues to face attacks while serving the suffering for decades now in Nigeria. There are many others too numerous to mention.

I would urge that you refer this for the personal attention of Archbishop Justin as though it were Leah herself pleading from the terrorists’ dungeon to be freed for her birthday.

There could be fewer issues of greater moment on the planet today affecting tens of millions of Christians that deserve his attention such as this. You do the Archbishop a disservice and Leah too if you do not offer him the opportunity to be personally aware of this request.

There is indeed a difference between being known for occupying a position or being known for adopting a position. The position of Archbishop of Canterbury is God’s gift of him but what he makes of it is his gift to God.

Archbishop Justin’s friendship with Gen. Buhari cannot be solely for the benefit of the later. It must of needs be a blessing to someone. May be it existed for such a time as this!

Once again I make a specific request – for His Grace Archbishop Justin to phone Gen. Buhari and ask him to kindly secure Leah’s release for her birthday.

In conclusion, last night I was privileged to watch Nobel Literature Prize Laureate Prof Wole Soyinka read an ode to Leah at Georgetown university in Washington.

Should His Grace feel that Leah’s plight does not command his attention, the very rocks themselves will cry out for her. Help will come for Leah but who knows whether His Grace came to position for such a time as this?

Sincerely,

Emmanuel Ogebe

On May 8, 2019, at 11:52 AM, office of the Archbishop of Canterbury wrote:

Dear Mr Ogebe,

Thank you for your recent email addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Much as he would like to, the Archbishop is unable to respond personally and in detail to all the emails and letters that he receives, so I have been asked to reply to you on his behalf.

Your concern over the wellbeing of Leah Sharibu is of course well understood and this is continually a matter of prayer and concern. In 2018 the Archbishop met with President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria, raising the urgent situation of Leah Sharibu and urging the President to do everything possible to secure her release. Please also be assured that I have brought your message to the attention of those advising the Archbishop on Nigeria and assisting in mediating a settlement to the present crises.

Emails like your own just go to show that people are seeking to respond to the current uncertainties which is a constant encouragement to Archbishop Justin. He is grateful to you for writing and hopes that you will understand that it must be for him to decide when and about what subjects he raises. For him not to speak out about an issue does not necessarily mean that it is not of concern to him but the context and opportunity must be right if any intervention is to be effective. 

Please be assured however that the Archbishop is deeply concerned for the peace and progress of Nigeria – and particularly for the liberating peace of Jesus to be with all those held in captivity.

Thank you again for taking the time to write.

Yours sincerely,

Dominic Goodall | Correspondence Officer

Lambeth Palace, London SE1 7JU |

| www.archbishopofcanterbury.org

See the original letter addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury by Emmanuel Ogebe:

Subject: PLEAD FOR LEAH’S RELEASE

My Lord the Archbishop of Canterbury,

Greetings from Washington. I trust you are well.

My Lord Archbishop, I write to you concerning Leah Sharibu, a 15 year old secondary school student, who was abducted from her school in Nigeria last year by ISIS-affiliated terrorists.

Although her Muslim classmates were released weeks after, Leah has remained a hostage for one year three months now because she refused to renounce her Christian faith.

Leah was just 14 years old at the time and will turn 16 years old on May 14 – a week from today.

If Leah is not freed, this will be her second birthday in captivity as a prisoner for Christ.

My Lord, I call on you to kindly request Gen. Buhari, Nigeria’s President, to secure her immediate release.

You have been variously described as the president’s “best friend” and he has had numerous photo ops with you during his frequent UK vacations. It is reported that your antecedents go way back to when you were an oil executive and he an oil minister back in the day.

Accordingly, you have good standing to request that Gen. Buhari secures Leah’s freedom the way he secured the release of 100 of her Muslim schoolmates in March 2018.

My Lord, it took about eight months before Gen. Buhari reached out to the family of Leah about their missing daughter. Yet in recent weeks, many were stunned to see how rapidly Buhari was able to secure the release of Zainab a young lady held by Saudi Arabia on drug charges.

We are all at a loss on how else to get Gen. Buhari’s attention to respond decisively to Leah’s matter and think that your voice would be key to liberating the world’s youngest prisoner of conscience.

Although you may have been absent in the House of Lord’s Special Debate on Nigeria following the horrendous massacres in Plateau State which claimed the lives of hundreds of Christian villagers in June last year, we were gratified when you lent your voice to the impassioned pleas of your peers in the House led by Baroness Cox subsequently.

Addressing UK Minister Baroness Goldie, you said, “My Lords, I am sure that the Minister shares my deep concern about the violent attacks on Christians. For instance, the compound of my colleague the Archbishop of Jos was attacked a couple of weeks back, and one of his friends was killed.”

Archbishop Bishop Ben Kwashi was attacked the week after the Plateau massacre and the very day after the House of Lords’ special debate on Nigeria.

As you are aware, Nigeria is home to the largest number of Anglicans in the world exceeding even UK – the home of Anglicism. Your speaking out for the persecuted in Nigeria is speaking out for your laity as well.

Incidentally the church in northern Nigeria that has suffered the worst of the persecution is EYN the local offshoot of the Church of the Brethren in America. Like the Anglican Communion, COB now has more churches and members in Nigeria than in the original missionary church in America.

COB has, more than any church in America, been in the forefront of relief efforts to help its devastated brethren in Nigeria. Their Nigerian denomination EYN has lost over 10,000 members – killed by terrorism – with hundreds of thousands displaced or refugees. These fatalities are the worst in the world for a single denomination.

Regardless what the statistics are on Anglican fatalities in Nigeria, it is a Christian and moral duty to speak for the least of these.

Who could be more voiceless than a 15 year old captive Schoolgirl surrounded by terrorists?

My Lord, I urge you to kindly request of Gen. Buhari the speedy release of Christian heroine Schoolgirl Leah Sharibu from captivity so she can spend  her “sweet sixteen” birthday with her family next Tuesday May 14th.

I thank you for your kind attention.

Emmanuel Ogebe

US NIGERIA LAW GROUP

Washington DC

USA