Nigeria failed Hauwa Liman and led her to death at Boko Haram's feet

The irony in the execution story of Hauwa Liman is that she was kidnapped right before a battalion of soldiers, right before tanks and an entire regimen.

She was not kidnapped on the streets of Borno or in some nondescript community near Sambisa. Her walk to death began right from a ‘secure’ military environment! The rest of us should be shuddering right now.

It was a most brazen attack by the terrorists on the day--one that also exposed the underbelly of our fighting forces.

Liman was abducted in March in a military base in Rann, Borno State by Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA), a faction of Boko Haram.

On October 15, the terrorists took her life in the most brutal manner imaginable after threatening to do exactly that, last month.

She was a staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and she was in Borno to tend to internally displaced persons fleeing Boko Haram bombs and bullets. She was in Borno to help nurse hearts, broken limbs and wounds and restore smiles to the faces of the frustrated and dejected.

Liman was a 24-year-old midwife who helped women bring lives into the world in their most painful and vulnerable moments.

For her reward, she was led to the guillotine or tied to a stake with machetes probably dangling over her head. Before midnight of October 15, she was dead.She brought lives into the world but had hers snuffed out from her by a gang of deranged beasts.

We failed Liman. Nigeria failed Liman. The government failed Liman the way it has failed everyone still in Boko Haram custody.

Minister of Information Lai Mohammed says the federal government kept negotiations open with Boko Haram and tried to save Liman's life

“We did everything any responsible government should do to save the aid worker. As we have been doing since these young women were abducted, we kept the line of negotiations open all through. In all the negotiations, we acted in the best interest of the women and the country as a whole”, Mohammed said.

It's difficult to believe anyone in government these days and there’s no reason why we should believe the government’s spokesperson on this occasion.

The bottom-line is that we badly need to review our nation’s security architecture and keep Nigerians a lot safer. This was another pointer that we aren't there yet, in spite of government's irritating claim to have technically defeated Boko Haram.

We are nowhere near defeating Boko Haram technically or physically. Liman’s gruesome murder is a sad reminder of how far we still have to go to deal Boko Haram a fatal blow. Liman’s blood is on Nigeria. The nation she served so well couldn't even save her life. This nation let her down.