Several Nigerian media outlets have reported Saturday that kidnapped Christian Nigerian schoolgirl Leah Sharibu is indeed alive. In late July, reports began to circulate that the 16-year-old had been killed in captivity. 

Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC), which advocates on behalf of hundreds of millions of persecuted Christians worldwide, says Nigerian contacts report the Nigerian federal government dismisses “speculation that Leah Sharibu, the Dapchi schoolgirl still held by Boko Haram, is dead” and continues to “negotiate her release from the captivity of the terrorist group.”

The Senior Special Assistant to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, gave an update on Leah Sharibu in a statement he issued on Saturday in Abuja. "Contrary to false reports, she is alive – given assurances from our security agencies – and the government is committed to her safe return, as well as all other hostages to their families.

‘‘Instead of giving up,” Shehu says, “the government is carrying forward processes that should hopefully yield her release by her captors.”

Sharibu and her classmates were kidnapped on February 19, 2019. Sharibu was the only Christian in the group, and while the others were released, the teenage girl remained in captivity for refusing to renounce her Christian faith.