A video appearing to show proof of life of some of Nigeria’s kidnapped Chibok girls is being aired along with images of tearful parents recognizing their daughters, unheard of since the mass abduction by Boko Haram extremists two years ago.
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The video was sent to the Nigerian government, and continues Boko Haram’s negotiations for a prisoner exchange. It triggered the online campaign #BringBackOurGirls which went as far as the White House and was tweeted by first lady Michelle Obama.
In 2014, Boko Haram used four children in their suicide bombings, but that number grew to 44 in 2015, said UNICEF.
Ever since, protesters have regularly marched outside government buildings and along grassy medians in Nigeria’s capital.
“There is the misconception that embracing social media or using new media technologies will bring about the needed change”, Akpojivi said.
Aremu who pointed out that two years is more than enough to dampen the expectations of possibility of the return of the abducted girls, said that it is not to say that the safe return of the girls is not possible, but the concurrent signals (female kid bombers, killing and indoctrination) point to the contrary.
In a video released shortly after the abductions, Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, demanded a prisoner exchange, and said that the girls had converted to Islam.
This can not become a reality until parents are reunited with their daughters, and all those abducted are returned home. “The kidnapping of these young women, along with the kidnappings of countless others by Boko Haram, epitomizes this terrorist group’s depravity”. He submitted that the society has to deal with the corruption saying “I believe we must deal with corruption, it is at the heart of what has gone wrong in this society”.
Present at the forum were Ministers of Interior and Environment, representatives of National Security Adviser and Service Chiefs, Ambassadors of US, France and the UK High Commissioners to Nigeria, representatives of European Commission, relevant government agencies as well as NGOs and CSOs including the Bring Back Our Girls, BBOG group.
Following the kidnapping, dozens of the 276 escaped but 219 are still missing.
Galang said the girls in the video spoke in Hausa, which is widely spoken in Nigeria, and in Kibaku, the Chibok language.
Meanwhile, in a new report titled “Beyond Chibok”, UNICEF says that suicide attacks involving children have increased in Cameroon, Chad, and Nigeria and that girls formed 90 percent of the child attackers.
Red ribbons are tied around a tree trunk on the eve of the second anniversary of the abduction of the Chibok school girls in Abuja, Nigeria, April 13, 2016.
The group has abducted more than 2,000 civilians, many of them women and girls, including large groups of students.
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He said the community is angry that their only school remains in the ruins created by Boko Haram, which firebombed buildings as they took off with the girls.
