On the night of April 14, 2014, Boko Haram fighters kidnapped more than 250 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok, Nigeria. Yana Galang told Voice of America the girls in the video “are our girls”, but her daughter did not appear in it. The government and parents remain skeptical about the video, however.
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Boko Haram seize 276 girls from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok as they gather for science exams.
On May 17, Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria vow to fight Boko Haram together in what Cameroon President Paul Biya terms a “declaration of war”.
And why had the Nigerian government – believed to have been in possession of the video since mid-January – failed to inform the families of the missing girls it had the film, the first glimmer of hope their daughters were still alive?
It was US First Lady Michelle Obama who put the spotlight on the girl victims by sharing a photo (shown below) in 2014 that went viral, bringing worldwide attention to the struggles West Africa faces from Takfiri terrorist groups, which had been allegedly sponsored by the US and its allies.
It was two years ago today that militants stormed the dormitory of a government boarding school for girls in Chibok, Nigeria.
Boko Haram’s cruelty extends far beyond the Chibok schoolgirls. CNN obtained the footage and reported the video was originally kept only for negotiators and specific members of the Nigerian government to view.
According to the United Nations, more needs to be done by the Nigerian Government and the worldwide community to keep the Nigerian female population safe from the horrors other women and girls have endured.
“It is unfortunate that they knew all these things and were communicating with the abductors but had no communication with us”, he said by telephone from Abuja.
“I stand with the people of Nigeria and all those who have been working diligently to secure the safe return of the Chibok girls and bring an end to Boko Haram’s brutal acts of terror”.
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“They’re seen as Boko Haram wives, (some with) Boko Haram babies, by their own relatives”, he said. He was ejected from office in an election a year ago, and the new president, Muhammadu Buhari, pledged to step up efforts to find and free the girls. One of the supporters explained why they still gather, even after all the TV cameras left: “I am here because the Chibok girls are children of the poor, the children who are voiceless in this country and they need somebody to speak out for them”, he said.
