The mother of the only Nigerian schoolgirl still in Boko Haram captivity after the extremists released 104 classmates says her daughter was blocked from boarding the vehicle to freedom with her classmates and told to convert to Islam.

Rebecca Sharibu said her 15-year-old daughter, Leah, refused.

“Her friends said they tried to convince her but she said she will not convert to Islam,” the girl’s mother said.

“Boko Haram said since she will not convert to Islam she should remain behind.

“That was how they left her.”

Released girls boarding a military plane (Hamza Suleiman/AP)
Released girls boarding a military plane (Hamza Suleiman/AP)

Leah Sharibu asked her departing Muslim classmates to pray for her.

The father of one of the Nigerian schoolgirls still unaccounted for said he believes his daughter and others are dead and buried.

Inuwa Garba said friends who were freed on Wednesday told him the 16-year-old died from injuries in the stampede during the mass abduction a month ago.

“They told me five of the girls died and my daughter, who was among them, was the first to die,” Mr Garba says.

The survivors told him the bodies were buried in the bush.