Our hearts and prayers go out to the abducted #dapchigirls and their parents
Nigeria has, yet again, been rocked by a massive abduction of over 100 School Girls by heavily armed Boko Haram members who were pretending to be Nigerian soldiers. This disheartening situation has revived painful memories for the nation as a whole.
Nearly 4 years ago, in April 2014, the same group of gunmen arrived at Chibok town late at night in a blaze of gunfire and headed for the school where they raided the dormitories and loaded 276 girls on to lorries, sparking one of the biggest global social media campaigns, with tweeters using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.
Some managed to escape shortly after they were seized, while about 100 have been freed in exchange for Boko Haram militants,
However, about a 100 girls are still missing and those that have come back have recounted tales of ‘stigmatization‘ that they have faced in their various communities
We don’t want a repeat of that situation. The longer they remain with Boko Haram, their mental, emotional and physical health is at stake.
“We don’t want these girls to stay long with those militants. Anything can happen to them,” Kachalla Bukar, the father of a 14 year old girl who is believed to be one of the abducted girls, told the BBC.
Since the abduction, there have been conflicting reports on the numbers of girls taken by the terrorist group, after much ado , a list of 110 girls ranging from ages 11-19 has been officially released.
These girls are innocent and intelligent girls who decided to go back to school despite the state of unrest in the North. Parents have come out to talk about what a heartbreaking experience this is and other people have recounted their experience.
They are just children, little girls with bright futures. Education is not a crime and it shouldn’t be so risky. We urge the Federal Government to hasten attempts to release our girls.
Our hearts bleed for the abducted Yobe girls and their parents and we pray that they are quickly found.
