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Abuja — Nigerian activists planned to march on parliament Wednesday to demand the government and military do more to rescue scores of schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram Islamists more than two weeks ago. The protest, dubbed “a million woman march” and promoted on Twitter under #BringBackOurGirls, will not likely to draw a massive crowd.
But organiser Hadiza Bala Usman said that the turn-out was less important than raising awareness about the plight of the hostages whose 14 April abduction at gunpoint from their school in the northeast has outraged Africa’s most populous nation.
“We have put the word out on social media and we hope people will come. But even if only 10 people come, it will be 10 people who are committed to ensuring that these girls are not disregarded,” she said.
“The government has to understand that we are not going to allow this silence to continue,” Usman added.
The mass kidnapping in the Chibok area of northeastern Borno state was one of the most shocking attacks in Boko Haram’s five-year extremist uprising, which has killed thousands across the north and centre of the country.
Borno’s government said 129 girls were taken and that 52 have since escaped.
Locals, including the principal at the targeted Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, have rejected those figures, claiming that 230 teenage students were taken and that 187 are still being held hostage.
The leader of Chibok’s elders forum, Pogo Bitrus, said that he had received information indicating the girls were trafficked into neighbouring Cameroon and Chad and sold as brides to insurgent commanders for 2,000 naira ($12).
There was however no independent confirmation of this report.
Online Reporter