Parents of aide worker, Hauwa Liman, refuse to believe she is dead

The immediate family of aide worker, Hauwa Liman, who was killed by Boko Haram members on Monday October 15th, are currently in shok over her death and have refused to accept the sad news that she is dead and will never be seen by them again. 

Hauwa who works with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), was kidnapped alongside two of her colleagues by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in March. Herself and one of her colleague, Saifura Ahmed, have been killed by the sect members.

Reacting to her demise, her father, Mohammed Liman in an interview with Channels TV, expressed shock at the demise of his daughter.

“We feel so bad and we are in doubt if she is dead or alive because we didn’t expect her to be killed so suddenly. In fact, we are in doubt because, unless we see her corpse or any evidence that shows she is dead, we still believe that she is living. She is living,” her father insisted with her mom and other women in the home breaking down in tears intermittently

Struggling to keep his emotions in check, Liman appealed to the Federal government to ensure that the sect members return her corpse to them for proper burial.

“I appeal to the insurgents to release her because she is not a warring party. She is a humanitarian worker. She treats the young and the women and she is so helpful, even to them; not only to the whole society – even to them. We appeal to the government, if she was dead at all, we want the corpse to be brought and we bury her. That will give us peace of mind. Otherwise, we will never forget such an incident in our lives” her dad pleaded.

Hauwa’s mother, Iyakachi, says she is yet to come to terms that her child had died.

“Up to this moment my mind has not told me that my daughter is dead. Because if you see what happened, these people want money. Now after Buhari agreed that he’d give the money, why is the gap between when he gave his consent and when this incidence happened so close?  If a person wants money and they agreed to give him the money is he supposed to do this? Another thing is they (Hauwa and her colleagues) are humanitarian workers and are not supposed to be killed, and they are women. Why were they killed? And the ICRC had already pleaded with them to spare their staff and they even rendered them help as humanitarian workers. If this truly happened then it’s wrong. And, me, I strongly believe, that my daughter is not dead.” she said amidst tears

Based on her belief about her daughter’s fate, she also called on the government to act.

“The government should investigate; if this girl is still alive, they should just bring her back. I don’t need anything except my child. If they can try and confirm that my daughter is well and alive, they should bring her back; that’s all,” she said.