Eight years ago, 14-year-old Leah Sharibu was kidnapped from her school in northern Nigeria by Islamic militants and dragged into captivity. She remains in captivity to this day because she refuses to renounce her Christian faith.
Last month, the anniversary of her kidnapping received little acknowledgement except from a number of persecution watchdog organizations. While many have forgotten her story, Sharibu’s absence is felt every day by her family, who have not heard from her since the day of the kidnapping in February 2018.
Sharibu was kidnapped by the Islamic State-West Africa Province (ISWAP) alongside 104 other girls from the Government Girls Science and Technical School in Yobe State on February 19, 2018. While most of the other girls have since been released, Sharibu has not been let go because she refuses to convert to Islam.
Ryan Brown, the CEO of persecution watchdog Open Doors, told The Daily Wire that Sharibu was the only Christian in the group of kidnapped girls and was singled out because of her faith. Open Doors keeps in regular contact with Sharibu’s family and helps them celebrate her birthday every year.
“With so much going on in our world, it’s easy to forget these things. It’s easy to move on to the next headline,” he said. “But for those that had been personally touched by these things, they can’t move on.”
Sharibu’s family celebrates her birthday back in 2019. Credit: KOLA SULAIMON/AFP via Getty Images.
Some reports suggest that Sharibu has been forced into marriages with her captors and had children, but those are difficult to confirm. Another woman kidnapped by Islamic militants who later escaped in 2024 confirmed that she encountered Sharibu during her time in captivity.
Sharibu’s family says that the Nigerian government has done little to get her released, Brown told The Daily Wire.
“There have been Nigerian officials that have communicated and attempted to see Leah released and have said that they will do that, but the family has not been able to see any visible evidence that there’s been anything other than promises that were made. And so that has been a source of confusion and pain,” he said.
The Islamic State-West Africa Province broke off from the militant Islamic group Boko Haram in 2015 and has since displaced or killed thousands in and around Nigeria, according to American intelligence. The group has between 4,000 and 7,000 members and carries out military-style bombings, kidnappings, and targeted killings.
Sharibu’s continued captivity is a brutal reminder of the reality many Christians face in Nigeria despite the government’s assurances that it protects Christians from violent attacks.
Brown praised the Trump administration for designating Nigeria as a country of particular concern over Christian persecution in November 2025. Shortly after, on Christmas Day, President Donald Trump ordered strikes on ISIS targets in Nigeria, calling for the terrorists to stop “slaughtering of Christians.”
Brown said the problem of Christian persecution is real in Nigeria and that the government’s denial of the problem is inaccurate. He said there were examples of villages targeted by militants where all the churches were burned down, but the mosques were left standing. Even if there were arrests for violent acts, Brown said there were rarely prosecutions.
“It’s difficult for any of us to know exactly what is going on there, but the end result is that whether it’s through omission or commission, there’s still a responsibility,” he said. “The Nigerian government needs to address those things, it needs to be able to respond to those types of situations.”
Facing increasing pressure from the Trump administration, Brown said that it looks like some of the militants behind killings of Christians over the summer might be prosecuted.
“That is a huge step forward and one that we continue to advocate for and to ask the Nigerian government to not allow these individuals to act with impunity to make sure that there’s accountability for these acts of aggression,” he said.
With growing pressure over its handling of Christian persecution, the Nigerian government has hired lobbyists to convince the American government that it is taking appropriate action to protect Christians.
In December 2025, the DCI Group registered with the Justice Department, notifying it that it was assisting the Nigerian government in “communicating its actions to protect Nigerian’s Christian communities and maintaining U.S support in countering West African jihadist groups and other destabilizing elements.”
Nigeria agreed to pay the consulting firm millions to resurrect its damaged image. So far, DCI has created pages called Secure Nigeria HQ across X, Instagram, and Facebook, according to filings with the Justice Department. The social media profiles have not yet been made public.
Justice Department filing.
Despite the efforts of the Nigerian government, the number of religious killings and kidnappings paints a more troubled picture. Of the 3,302 religiously motivated kidnappings that took place in 2025, 2,293 took place in Nigeria, Brown told The Daily Wire.
Brown called for Americans to remember Sharibu’s parents in their prayers.
“Knowing that there are others around the world that have not forgotten her daughter, that have not forgotten over this period of eight years, that her daughter has likely experienced a hell on earth, and to know that there are others who remember and that are continuing to lift [her] up in prayer, there is just such incredible encouragement.”
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