On the night of 14–15 April 2014, 276 mostly
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
female students aged from 16 to 18 were kidnapped by the
Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram
Boko Haram, officially known as ''Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād'' ( ar, جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, lit=Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad), is an Islamic terrorist organization ...
from the Government Girls Secondary School at the town of
Chibok
Chibok is a Local Government Area of Borno State, Nigeria, located in the south of the state. It has its headquarters in the town of Chibok.
Landscape
It has an area of 1,350 km²
Population
It has a population of 66,105 at the 2006 ...
in
Borno State
Borno State is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Yobe to the west, Gombe to the southwest, and Adamawa to the south while its eastern border forms part of the national border with Cameroon, its northern border ...
,
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
.
Prior to the raid, the school had been closed for four weeks due to deteriorating security conditions, but the girls were in attendance in order to take final exams in
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
.
57 of the schoolgirls escaped immediately following the incident by jumping from the trucks on which they were being transported, and others have been rescued by the
Nigerian Armed Forces
The Nigerian Armed Forces (NAF) are the combined military forces of Nigeria. It consists of three uniformed service branches: the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, and Nigerian Air Force. The President of Nigeria functions as the commander-in-chief o ...
on various occasions. Hopes have been raised that the 219 remaining girls might be released, however some girls are believed to be dead.
Amina Ali
Aminatu (also Amina; died 1610) was a Hausa people, Hausa Muslim historical figure in the Hausa Kingdoms, city-state Zazzau (now city of Zaria in Kaduna State), in what is now in the north-west region of Nigeria. She might have ruled in the mid- ...
, one of the missing girls, was found in May 2016. She claimed that the remaining girls were still there, but that six had died.
As of 14 April 2021, seven years after the initial kidnapping, over 100 of the girls remain missing.
Some have described their capture in appearances at international human rights conferences. Boko Haram has used the girls as negotiating pawns in
prisoner exchanges
A prisoner (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison.
...
, offering to release some girls in exchange for some of their captured commanders in jail.
The girls kidnapped in Chibok in 2014 are only a small percentage of the total number of people abducted by the
Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram
Boko Haram, officially known as ''Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād'' ( ar, جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, lit=Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad), is an Islamic terrorist organization ...
.
Amnesty International estimated in 2015 that at least 2,000 women and girls had been abducted by the
Islamic terrorist group since 2014, many of whom had been forced into
sexual slavery
Sexual slavery and sexual exploitation is an attachment of any ownership rights, right over one or more people with the intent of Coercion, coercing or otherwise forcing them to engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activities. This include ...
.
Background
The terrorist group
Boko Haram
Boko Haram, officially known as ''Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād'' ( ar, جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, lit=Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad), is an Islamic terrorist organization ...
wants to institute an Islamic
caliphate
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
in Nigeria and is in particular opposed to western-style modern
education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...
, which they say lures people away from following Islamic teaching as a way of life.
By 2014, tens of thousands of people had been killed in attacks perpetrated by the group, and the Nigerian federal government declared a
state of emergency
A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...
in May 2013 in the states of
Borno,
Yobe
Yobe is a state located in northeastern Nigeria. A mainly agricultural state, it was created on 27 August 1991. Yobe State was carved out of Borno State. The capital of Yobe State is Damaturu; and it's largest and most populated city is Potisku ...
and
Adamawa during its fight against the insurgency.
The resulting crackdown led to the capture or killing of hundreds of Boko Haram members, with the remainder retreating to mountainous areas from which they began increasingly to target civilians.
However, the campaign failed to stabilise the country. A
French military operation in Mali also pushed Boko Haram and
AQIM
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb ( ar-at, تنظيم القاعدة في بلاد المغرب الإسلامي, Tanẓīm al-Qā'idah fī Bilād al-Maghrib al-Islāmī), or AQIM, is an Islamist militant organization (of al-Qaeda) that aims to ...
terrorists into Nigeria.
![Nigeria - Borno](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Nigeria_-_Borno.svg)
Boko Haram began to target schools in 2010, killing hundreds of students by 2014. A spokesperson for the group said such attacks would continue as long as the Nigerian government continued to interfere with traditional Islamic education. 10,000 children have been unable to attend school as a result of activities by Boko Haram.
[ Boko Haram has also been known to kidnap girls, whom it believes should not be educated, and use them as cooks or ]sex slave
Sexual slavery and sexual exploitation is an attachment of any ownership right over one or more people with the intent of coercing or otherwise forcing them to engage in sexual activities. This includes forced labor, reducing a person to a s ...
s.
On 6 July 2013, armed men from Boko Haram attacked Government Secondary School in Mamudo, Yobe State
Yobe is a state located in northeastern Nigeria. A mainly agricultural state, it was created on 27 August 1991. Yobe State was carved out of Borno State. The capital of Yobe State is Damaturu; and it's largest and most populated city is Potisku ...
, killing at least 42 people. Most of those killed were students, with some staff members among the dead. On 29 September 2013, armed men from Boko Haram gained access to the male hostel in the College of Agriculture in Gujba, Yobe State, killing forty-four students and teachers.
Boko Haram's attacks intensified in 2014. In February, the group killed more than 100 Christian men in the villages of Doron Baga
Baga is a town in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno State, Borno, close to Lake Chad, and lying northeast of the town of Kukawa. It is located within the Kukawa Local Government Area.
The town is approximately 196 km from Maiduguri ...
and Izghe
Izghe is a village in Gwoza Local Government Area, Borno State, Nigeria.
An massacre by Boko Haram
Boko Haram, officially known as ''Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād'' ( ar, جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والج ...
. That same month, 59 boys were killed in the Federal Government College attack
On February 25, 2014, fifty-nine boys were killed at the Federal Government College of Buni Yadi in Yobe State, Nigeria. The twenty-four buildings of the school were also burned down as a result of the attack. No group has claimed responsibility ...
in northeastern Nigeria. In March, the group attacked the Giwa military barracks, freeing captured militants. The Chibok abduction occurred on the same day as a bombing attack in Abuja in which at least 88 people died. The road leading to Chibok is frequently targeted due to the fact that there is little to no government protection for commuters for the village. Boko Haram was blamed for nearly 4,000 deaths in 2014.[ Training received from ]al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb ( ar-at, تنظيم القاعدة في بلاد المغرب الإسلامي, Tanẓīm al-Qā'idah fī Bilād al-Maghrib al-Islāmī), or AQIM, is an Islamist militant organization (of al-Qaeda) that aims to ...
and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ( ar-at, تنظيم القاعدة في جزيرة العرب, Tanẓīm al-Qā‘idah fī Jazīrat al-‘Arab, lit=Organization of the Base in the Arabian Peninsula or , ''Tanẓīm Qā‘idat al-Jihād fī Jaz ...
has helped Boko Haram intensify its attacks.
Jonathan N.C. Hill
Jonathan N.C. Hill is a British academic in the Defence Studies Department at King’s College London based at the UK’s Joint Services Command and Staff College.
Hill specializes in postcolonialism and in the Maghreb
The Maghreb (; ar, ...
of King's College London has suggested that Boko Haram kidnapped these girls after coming increasingly under the influence of al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
in the Islamic Maghreb, and asserts that the group's goal is to use girls and young women as sexual objects and as a means of intimidating the civilian population into compliance. Hill describes the attacks as similar to the kidnapping of girls in Algeria in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Kidnapping
On the night of 14 April 2014, members of the Islamic
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the mai ...
jihadist
Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...
terrorist group
A number of national governments and two international organizations have created lists of organizations that they designate as terrorist. The following list of designated terrorist groups lists groups designated as terrorist by current and fo ...
Boko Haram
Boko Haram, officially known as ''Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād'' ( ar, جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, lit=Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad), is an Islamic terrorist organization ...
attacked the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok
Chibok is a Local Government Area of Borno State, Nigeria, located in the south of the state. It has its headquarters in the town of Chibok.
Landscape
It has an area of 1,350 km²
Population
It has a population of 66,105 at the 2006 ...
, Nigeria, a majority Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
village. A few hours prior to the raid, residents in Chibok had received phone calls from neighbouring villages warning them of the incoming attack, who had witnessed convoys containing armed insurgents driving in the direction of the town. The kidnappers broke into the school, pretending to be soldiers of the Nigerian Armed Forces
The Nigerian Armed Forces (NAF) are the combined military forces of Nigeria. It consists of three uniformed service branches: the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, and Nigerian Air Force. The President of Nigeria functions as the commander-in-chief o ...
and dressed in matching military uniforms. The militants also engaged approximately 15 soldiers based in Chibok, who were unable to stop the attack as the militants had superior numbers and firepower, and no reinforcements were sent by the Nigerian Military
The Nigerian Armed Forces (NAF) are the combined military forces of Nigeria. It consists of three uniformed service branches: the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, and Nigerian Air Force. The President of Nigeria functions as the commander-in-chief o ...
during the course of the attack. A soldier and a police officer were killed during the course of the raid. The attack lasted for about 5 hours, during which houses in Chibok were also burned down.[
According to accounts given by some of the girls, including a diary written by two of the girls (Naomi Adamu and Sarah Samuel) whilst in captivity, the militants had intended to steal a piece of machinery and were initially unsure what to do with the girls.] They told the girls to get out and come with them. Some girls were loaded into vehicles and the rest had to walk several miles until other trucks came to take them away, possibly into the Konduga
Konduga is a community in Borno State, Nigeria and the center of a Local Government Area of the same name about 25 km to the southeast of Maiduguri, situated on the north bank of the Ngadda River. The population of the Konduga Local Governmen ...
area of the Sambisa Forest
The Sambisa Forest is a forest in Borno State, northeast Nigeria. It is in the southwestern part of Chad Basin National Park, about 60km southeast of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State. It has an area of 518 km².
Geography
The Sambisa fore ...
, a former nature reserve covering 60,000 km2 where Boko Haram were known to have fortified camps. An unidentified senior military source believed that the girls may have been split up and placed in different Boko Haram camps, around Lake Chad
Lake Chad (french: Lac Tchad) is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake in Central Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries. According to the ''Global Resource Information Database'' of the United Nations Environment Programme, ...
, the Gorsi mountains and the Sambisa forest. 57 girls were able to escape by jumping from the trucks in which they were being transported.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, local vigilantes and parents searched the Sambisa forest in an attempt to locate and rescue some of the kidnapped girls, however were unsuccessful in finding any of the captives.
The school had been closed for four weeks before to the attack due to deteriorating security conditions, however students from multiple schools and villages were in attendance at the time of the raid to take final exams in Physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
. There were 530 students registered to participate in Senior Secondary Certificate Examination at the Government Girls Secondary School, although it is unclear how many were in attendance at the time of the attack. The children were aged from 16 to 18 years of age and were in their final year of school. There was initial confusion over the number of girls kidnapped, with the Nigerian military initially incorrectly claiming in a statement that the majority of the girls had escaped or been released and only eight were still unaccounted for. Parents said that 234 girls were missing, however according to the local police approximately 276 children were taken in the attack, of whom 53 had escaped by 2 May. It is widely accepted that initially 276 girls were kidnapped. Other reports gave various other figures for the number of kidnapped and missing students.
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
condemned the Nigerian government, stating that it believed that the Nigerian military had a four hour advance warning of the kidnapping but failed to send reinforcements to protect the school. The Nigerian military later confirmed that they had a four-hour advance notice of the attack but stated that their over-extended forces were unable to mobilize reinforcements.
Aftermath
Events in 2014
The overwhelming majority of the kidnapped girls who were Christian were forced to convert to Islam. The girls were forced into marriage with members of Boko Haram, with a reputed bride price
Bride price, bride-dowry (Mahr in Islam), bride-wealth, or bride token, is money, property, or other form of wealth paid by a groom or his family to the woman or the family of the woman he will be married to or is just about to marry. Bride dow ...
of ₦
The naira ( sign: ₦; code: NGN) is the currency of Nigeria. One naira is divided into 100 ''kobo''.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is the sole issuer of legal tender money throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It controls the vol ...
2,000 each ( $6/ £4). Sightings of the students were reported by villagers living in the Sambisa Forest
The Sambisa Forest is a forest in Borno State, northeast Nigeria. It is in the southwestern part of Chad Basin National Park, about 60km southeast of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State. It has an area of 518 km².
Geography
The Sambisa fore ...
, considered a refuge for Boko Haram. Others reported seeing the students crossing into the neighbouring countries of Chad
Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...
and Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
with the militants,[ though ]Kashim Shettima
Kashim Shettima Mustapha (born 2 September 1966) is a Nigerian banker and politician who has served as Senator for Borno Central since 2019. He previously served as the Governor of Borno State from 2011 to 2019. A member of the All Progressives ...
, the governor of Borno State in Nigeria, said on 11 May that he had sighted the abducted girls and claimed that they had not taken across the borders into either country. The Nigerian Military enlisted help from local volunteers and vigilantes
Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority.
A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a person who ...
in order to search forests close to Nigeria's borders by 21 April. Local residents were able to track the movements of the students with the help of contacts across north eastern Nigeria.[ A diary written by some of the kidnapped students described how some were able to escape, but were returned to Boko Haram by local villagers and whipped as punishment.]
On 2 May, the Nigerian police said that the exact number of students kidnapped was unclear and asked parents to forward the names and photos of kidnapped girls so an official count could be made. The police blamed damage to school records during the attack as a reason for the confusion. Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan
Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957)Lawson Heyford, ''The Source'' (Lagos), 11 December 2006. is a Nigerian politician who served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to fo ...
spoke publicly about the kidnapping for the first time on 4 May, saying the government was doing everything it could to find the missing girls. At the same time, he criticized parents for not supplying enough information about their missing children, claiming that they were not fully cooperating with the police.
''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' reported that the British Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
conducted Operation Turus in response to the kidnapping. A source involved with the operation told the ''Observer'' that "the girls were located in the first few weeks of the RAF mission", and that "we he RAFoffered to rescue them, but the Nigerian government declined", because they viewed the matter as a "national issue" to be resolved by Nigerian intelligence and security services. Sir Andrew Pocock
Sir Andrew John Pocock (born 23 August 1955) is a British former diplomat who was High Commissioner to Nigeria and Permanent Representative to ECOWAS 2012–15.
Early life and education
Born in Trinidad and Tobago to John and Vida Pocock, And ...
, British High Commissioner to Nigeria at the time of the kidnapping, said that a couple of months after the kidnapping, a group of up to 80 of the Chibok girls were seen by American "eye in the sky" technology but nothing was done. About 80 girls, a camp and evidence of vehicle movement were spotted next to a local landmark called the "Tree of Life" in the Sambisa forest.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau
Abu Mohammed Abubakar al-Sheikawi (also known by the alias ''Darul Akeem wa Zamunda Tawheed'', or ''Darul Tawheed''; "the abode of monotheism"; born 1965, 1969 or 1975 – 19 May 2021) was a Kanuri man known as the leader of Boko Haram, a Nigeri ...
claimed responsibility for the kidnappings in a video released shorty after 1pm on 5 May. Shekau claimed that "Allah instructed me to sell them... I will carry out his instructions", and that " Slavery is allowed in my religion, and I shall capture people and make them slaves
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
." He said the girls should not have been in school and instead should have been married since girls as young as nine are suitable for marriage.[ Another video was released a week later, which showed about 130 girls dressed in hijabs and long Islamic ]chador
A chādor (Persian, ur, چادر, lit=tent), also variously spelled in English as chadah, chad(d)ar, chader, chud(d)ah, chadur, and naturalized as , is an outer garment or open cloak worn by many women in the Persian-influenced countries of Ira ...
s. This was the first public sighting of the girls since they were abducted from Chibok. In this video, Shekau acknowledged that many of the girls were not Muslims, but that some had converted to Islam and that they would "treat them well the way the Prophet Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monoth ...
treated the infidels he seized". Shekau also mentioned that he would not release the girls until captured Boko Haram militants in prison were released, raising the possibility of a prisoner exchange
A prisoner exchange or prisoner swap is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners: prisoners of war, spies, hostages, etc. Sometimes, dead bodies are involved in an exchange.
Geneva Conventions
Under the Geneva Convent ...
with the Nigerian government.
Following the Chibok kidnapping, several attacks linked to Boko Haram occurred in Nigeria. On 5 May, at least 300 residents of the nearby town of Gamboru Ngala Gamboru (or Gamburu) is a market town in Borno State, northeast Nigeria, near the Cameroon border. It is the administrative centre of Ngala local government areas of Nigeria, local government area.
A 2013 The New Humanitarian, IRIN report indicate ...
were killed in an attack by Boko Haram militants after Nigerian security forces left the town to search for the kidnapped students. The next day, Boko Haram militants abducted 8 girls aged between 12 and 15 from northeastern Nigeria. In the night of 13 to 14 May, Boko Haram ambushed a military convoy that was searching for the abductees near Chibok, killing twelve soldiers and wounding several others. The incident led to mutiny of government forces at Maiduguri
Maiduguri is the capital and the largest city of Borno State
Borno State is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Yobe to the west, Gombe to the southwest, and Adamawa to the south while its eastern border form ...
, reducing the ability of the Nigerian Army to rescue the schoolgirls. Between 20 and 23 June, 91 women and children were abducted in other areas of Borno State by Boko Haram militants, with an estimated 600 girls held by Boko Haram in three camps outside Nigeria by this stage. Boko Haram once again attacked Chibok and other nearby villages on 22 July, killing at least 51 people, including 11 parents of the abducted girls.
A journalist-brokered deal to secure the release of the girls in exchange for 100 Boko Haram prisoners held in Nigerian jails was scrapped at a late stage on 24 May after President Goodluck Jonathan consulted with U.S., Israeli, French and British foreign ministers in Paris, where the consensus was that no deals should be struck with terrorists, and that a solution involving force was required. On 26 May, the Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff announced that the Nigerian security forces had located the kidnapped girls, but ruled out a forceful rescue attempt for fears of collateral damage. Two of the kidnapped girls were found raped, "half-dead", and tied to a tree on 30 May by a civilian militia in the Baale region of Northeastern Nigeria. Villagers said that Boko Haram had left the two girls and had killed four other disobedient girls and buried them. Another 4 girls escaped later in the year, walking for three weeks and reaching safety by 12 October. They said they had been held in a camp in Cameroon and raped every day.
It was reported on 26 June that the Nigerian government had signed a contract worth more than $1.2 million with Levick, a Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...
firm to work on "the international and local media narrative" surrounding the Chibok schoolgirl kidnapping. The contract was labeled a waste of money by President Jonathan's critics. Jonathan was criticized for a lack of communication regarding the kidnapping, but he later attributed his silence to a desire not to compromise the details of security efforts being carried out to rescue the girls via a column in ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''.
On 1 July, a businessman suspected of carrying out the kidnappings of the school girls, as well as the bombing of a busy market in northeastern Nigeria, was arrested. Military sources said that he was also accused of helping the Islamist militant group kill the traditional leader Idrissa Timta
Shehu Mustapha Idrissa Timta (1942 – May 30, 2014) was a Nigerian traditional leader who served as the 3rd Emir of Gwoza from October 1981 until his death in May 2014. He was killed in an attack by Boko Haram terrorists on May 30, 2014.
He was ...
, the Emir of Gwoza. Two weeks later, Zakaria Mohammed, a high-ranking member of Boko Haram
Boko Haram, officially known as ''Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād'' ( ar, جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, lit=Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad), is an Islamic terrorist organization ...
, was arrested at Darazo-Basrika Road while fleeing from counterinsurgency operations around the Balmo Forest.
Events in 2015
Stephen Davis, a former Anglican clergyman
The Anglican ministry is both the leadership and agency of Christian service in the Anglican Communion. "Ministry" commonly refers to the office of ordained clergy: the ''threefold order'' of bishops, priests and deacons. More accurately, Anglica ...
, contacted three Boko Haram commanders who said they might be prepared to release Chibok schoolgirls and went to Nigeria in April 2015. He was given proof of life (a video of them being raped) and was told 18 were seriously ill, some with HIV
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...
. Davis got initial agreement that Boko Haram would release these ill girls. However, after three attempts the deal fell through when another group abducted the girls believing they could make money out of them and Davis left Nigeria. Davis commented that it was not difficult to locate the five or six main Boko Haram camps, and that he was able to find them on Google Earth
Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...
.
Renovation of the school commenced in March, with Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (; born 13 June 1954) is a Nigerian economist, who has been serving as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization since March 2021. Notably, she is the first woman and first African to lead the World Trade Organiza ...
visiting Chibok to deliver a short speech and help with laying bricks at the school.
By May, the Nigerian military had reclaimed most of the areas previously controlled by Boko Haram in Nigeria including many of the camps in the Sambisa forest where it was suspected the Chibok girls had been kept. Although many women previously held captive by Boko Haram had been freed as the Nigerian military reclaimed these areas, none of the Chibok girls were found. President Muhammadu Buhari
Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015.
Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 Au ...
, who gained power through the 2015 Nigerian general election
General elections were held in Nigeria on 28 and 29 March 2015, the fifth quadrennial election to be held since the end of military rule in 1999. Voters elected the President and members to the House of Representatives and the Senate. The incu ...
, stated in December that he was willing to negotiate with Boko Haram for the release of the Chibok girls without any preconditions.
Acting director of defence information, Col. Rabe Abubakar, stated that the Nigerian armed forced would "not rush" to rescue the remaining girls. He justified this by claiming that rescue operations required "diligent intervention and a high-level operation".
Events in 2016
The Nigerian military freed 1,000 women and girls held captive in the village of Boboshe by Boko Haram in January, but none of them were Chibok girls.
Boko Haram released another video in April showing 15 girls who appeared to be Chibok girls, at which point at least 219 of those originally kidnapped were still missing. The video was reportedly taken in December 2015, and the girls seemed to show no signs of distress, though it is possible that the militants selected the girls on the video specifically to give the impression all the Chibok girls were in good health.
Chibok schoolgirl Amina Ali Nkeki was found on 17 May by the vigilante Civilian Joint Task Force
The Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) is a loose group of militants that was formed in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria to help oust Boko Haram Islamist fighters from their city. The group possesses basic weapons and has female members. The vigilant ...
group in the Sambisa Forest, along with her baby and Mohammad Hayyatu, a suspected Boko Haram militant who claimed to be her husband. All three were suffering from severe malnutrition when they were found.[ She was then taken to house of the group's leader Aboku Gaji who recognised her. The group then reunited the girl with her parents.] She met Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari
Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015.
Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 Au ...
on 19 May. Government officials announced the same day that the Nigerian army and vigilante groups had killed 35 Boko Haram militants, freed 97 women and children and claimed one of the women was a Chibok schoolgirl. However, there were doubts that this girl, Serah Luka, was really one of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls. On 21 May 2016, Amir Muhammad Abdullahi, who claimed to be the Boko Haram second in command and speaker for several senior militants, offered to surrender so long as they would not be harmed and in return they would release hostages including the Chibok girls. However when talking about the Chibok girls he said that "...frankly, just about a third of them remain, as the rest have been martyred".
In August the Nigerian military announced they had launched an air attack on Boko Haram's headquarters in the Sambisa Forest, claiming to have killed several commanders and seriously wounded the leader Abubakar Shekau. Later reports suggested the attack also killed 10 of the Chibok girls and wounded 30 others. Later in the month Boko Haram released a video of what appeared to be about 50 Chibok girls, some holding babies, with an armed masked spokesman who demanded the release of jailed fighters in exchange for the girls' freedom. The masked gunman said some of the Chibok girls had been killed by Nigerian air strikes and 40 had been married. The film was apparently released on the orders of Abubakar Shekau
Abu Mohammed Abubakar al-Sheikawi (also known by the alias ''Darul Akeem wa Zamunda Tawheed'', or ''Darul Tawheed''; "the abode of monotheism"; born 1965, 1969 or 1975 – 19 May 2021) was a Kanuri man known as the leader of Boko Haram, a Nigeri ...
, the leader of one of the factions of Boko Haram.
21 of the Chibok schoolgirls were released in October by Boko Haram after negotiations between the group and the Nigerian government, brokered by International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...
and the Swiss government
The Federal Council (german: Bundesrat; french: Conseil fédéral; it, Consiglio federale; rm, Cussegl federal) is the executive body of the federal government of the Swiss Confederation and serves as the collective head of state and governme ...
. A child born to one of the girls and believed by medical personnel to be about 20 months old also was released. On 16 October, President Buhari's spokesperson stated that the ISIL-allied faction of Boko Haram was willing to negotiate the release of 83 more of the girls. According to him, the splinter group had stated that the rest of the girls were under the control of Shekau-led faction. Two days later, Pogu Bitrus, the chairman of the Chibok Development Association, claimed that more than 100 of the missing girls apparently did not want to return home because they had either been brainwashed or were fearful of the stigma they will receive. Another girl named Maryam Ali Maiyanga was found along with a baby and rescued by the Nigerian Army on 5 November. The spokesman for the army, Sani Usman, said that she was found in Pulka, Borno State
Borno State is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Yobe to the west, Gombe to the southwest, and Adamawa to the south while its eastern border forms part of the national border with Cameroon, its northern border ...
whilst screening escapees from Boko Haram's Sambisa forest base. She was confirmed to be one of those kidnapped at Chibok by Bring Back Our Girls.
Events in 2017
One of the kidnapped girls, Rakiya Abubakar, was reported on 5 January to have been found by the Nigerian Army along with a 6-month-old baby while they were interrogating suspects detained in army raids on the Sambisa forest. Her identity was later confirmed by Bring Back Our Girls group.
82 further schoolgirls were released on 6 May following successful negotiations between the Nigerian government and Boko Haram, involving the exchange of five Boko Haram leaders. The negotiations were carried by Mustapha Zanna, barrister and owner of an orphanage in Maiduguri. The deal also involved the intervention of the human security division of Swiss government's foreign ministry and the Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...
. 3 million Euros (about 3.7 million US$) were paid as ransom money in two duffel bags for the total of 103 girls released in October 2016 and May 2017. A Nigerian government spokesman stated that though 83 girls were originally to be released in May 2017, one of them chose to stay with her husband instead of being freed.
U.S. President Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
met Chibok schoolgirls Joy Bishara and Lydia Pogu at the White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
on 27 June, who were due to start education at Southeastern University
Southeastern University is a private Christian university in Lakeland, Florida. It was established in 1935 in New Brockton, Alabama, as Southeastern Bible Institute, relocated to Lakeland in 1946, and became a liberal arts college in 1970. It i ...
in Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. Bishara and Pogu delivered a letter to Trump, urging him to "keep America safe and strong".
Events in 2018
The Nigerian military stated on 4 January that it had rescued Salomi Pogu, another of the kidnapped girls. Col. Onyema Nwachukwu stated that she was rescued near Pulka, Borno. She was found in the company of another young woman and her child. In February 2018 most of the released girls were studying at the American University of Nigeria not far from the original scene of the kidnapping at Chibok. It was estimated that 13 girls were presumed dead and 112 were still missing. In September 2018, Ali Garga, a Boko Haram militant, offered to free 40 of the remaining Chibok schoolgirls. However, he was tortured and killed by other Boko Haram members when they found out what he was doing. In July Nigerian police arrested and charged eight Boko Haram fighters allegedly involved in the kidnapping, with one defendant convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...
.
Events in 2021
An unknown number of girls escaped in January 2021. In 2021 Parkinson and Hinshaw published a book ("Bring Back Our Girls: The Astonishing Survival and Rescue of Nigeria's Missing Schoolgirls") which drew on interviews with the girls, former militants, spies and government officials. Much of the book was based on a diary kept by 24-year-old Naomi Adamu, one of the girls who had been kidnapped and freed in 2017. Adamu described her experiences, including how they had compulsory lessons on the Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
every day and were regularly beaten with rifle butts, rope and wire. The girls who refused to be married were not abused sexually; however, they were treated as slaves and forced to provide hard manual labor. She led a group of resistant girls who refused to convert to Islam, who were threatened with being killed and starvation
Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake, below the level needed to maintain an organism's life. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, dea ...
by the militants.
Events in 2022
In June 2022, Nigerian troops found a Chibok girl called Mary Ngoshe and her baby near a village called Ngoshe in Borno State.
Reactions
After the kidnapping, Governor Kashim Shettima
Kashim Shettima Mustapha (born 2 September 1966) is a Nigerian banker and politician who has served as Senator for Borno Central since 2019. He previously served as the Governor of Borno State from 2011 to 2019. A member of the All Progressives ...
demanded to visit Chibok
Chibok is a Local Government Area of Borno State, Nigeria, located in the south of the state. It has its headquarters in the town of Chibok.
Landscape
It has an area of 1,350 km²
Population
It has a population of 66,105 at the 2006 ...
, despite being advised that it was too dangerous. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...
and UNICEF
UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...
condemned the abduction, as did former Nigerian military ruler Muhammadu Buhari
Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015.
Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 Au ...
. The UN Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, and ...
also condemned the attack and warned of action against Boko Haram militants for abducting the girls.
The president of the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria called on Muslims to fast and pray "in order to seek Allah's intervention in this precarious time". Sa'ad Abubakar III
Sa'ad ( he, סַעַד, ''lit.'' Aid) is a Religious Kibbutz Movement , religious kibbutz in the Negev desert in southern Israel. Located near the Gaza Strip, and the cities of Sderot and Netivot, it falls under the jurisdiction of Sdot Negev Re ...
, the Sultan of Sokoto
Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...
, also called for prayers and intensified efforts to rescue the students. On 9 May, Governor Kashim Shettima
Kashim Shettima Mustapha (born 2 September 1966) is a Nigerian banker and politician who has served as Senator for Borno Central since 2019. He previously served as the Governor of Borno State from 2011 to 2019. A member of the All Progressives ...
of Borno State called on all Muslims and Christians to join in "three days of prayers and fasting". On the same day, Muslims in Cameroon called on fellow believers not to marry any of the girls should they be offered to them. On the same day, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia
The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia is the most senior and most influential Muslim religious and legal authority in Saudi Arabia. The holder of the position is appointed by the King. The Grand Mufti is the head of the Permanent Committee for Islamic R ...
, Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh, joined other religious leaders in the Muslim world in condemning the kidnappings, describing Boko Haram as misguided and intent on smearing the name of Islam. He stated that Islam is against kidnapping, and that marrying kidnapped girls is not permitted.
On the 600th day of the Chibok girls' abduction, a group of Nigeria experts in the United Kingdom called Nigeria Diaspora Security Forum called on the Federal Government of Nigeria under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari to set up a special taskforce tasked solely with the responsibility of looking for the girls.
International Reactions
Governments
* : Canadian Prime Minister
The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the confidence of a majority the elected House of Commons; as such ...
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...
acknowledged that Canadians had joined the international effort to free the schoolgirls. Details about the extent and duration of the involvement have been kept secret.
* announced its intention to make available "any useful information acquired by its satellites and intelligence services".
* offered a specialist team. French President Francois Hollande also offered to hold a summit in Paris with Nigeria and its neighbours to tackle the issue.[
* : ]Israeli Prime Minister
The prime minister of Israel ( he, רֹאשׁ הַמֶּמְשָׁלָה, Rosh HaMemshala, Head of the Government, Hebrew acronym: he2, רה״מ; ar, رئيس الحكومة, ''Ra'īs al-Ḥukūma'') is the head of government and chief exec ...
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...
offered assistance to the Nigerian President in locating the missing pupils on 11 May 2014. "Israel expresses its deep shock at the crime committed against the girls. We are willing to help assist in locating the girls and fighting the terror that is afflicting you", he said. According to an unnamed Israeli official, the Prime Minister later sent a team of intelligence experts to Nigeria. It contained people experienced in dealing with hostage situations, but he said they "are not operational troops, they're there to advise". A joint U.S.-Israel project, which modified the Beechcraft C-12 Huron
The Beechcraft C-12 Huron is the military designation for a series of twin-engine turboprop aircraft based on the Beechcraft Super King Air and Beechcraft 1900. C-12 variants are used by the United States Air Force, United States Army, United S ...
aircraft for electronic warfare and reconnaissance, was being used and "may prove decisive in finding the girls", according to one source.
* agreed to send experts to Nigeria to assist in the search for the students. The British experts were to be drawn from various governmental departments including the Foreign Office, the Department for International Development and the Ministry of Defence, and would concentrate on planning, co-ordination and advice to local authorities. A Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
Sentinel R1
The Raytheon Sentinel is an airborne battlefield and ground surveillance aircraft formerly operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF). While based on the Bombardier Global Express ultra long-range business jet, the prime contractor for the Sentine ...
reconnaissance aircraft has been deployed to Ghana to assist in the search.
* agreed to send experts to Nigeria to assist in the search for the students. The American team consists of military and law enforcement officers, specializing in "intelligence, investigations, hostage negotiation, information-sharing and victim assistance". The US is not considering sending armed forces. Former Nigerian Vice President, Atiku Abubakar Atiku is a given name and surname. It may refer to:
Given name
*Atiku Abubakar (born 1946), Nigerian politician and businessman, Vice President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007
*Atikur Rahman Mallik, Bangladeshi film editor
Middle name
*Abubakar Atiku ...
, and Dr. Babangida Aliyu, chairman of the Northern Governor's Forum, "welcomed the US government’s offer of military assistance". On 12 May 16 military personnel from US African Command joined the Search and Rescue Operations. On 22 May, the Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philippin ...
announced that it was deploying an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...
and 80 United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
personnel to nearby Chad. Chad was chosen as a base for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance flights because of its access to northern Nigeria.
Organisations
passed a resolution on 17 July, "calling for immediate and unconditional release of the abducted schoolgirls".
#BringBackOurGirls movement and protests
Parents and others took to social media to complain about the government's perceived slow and inadequate response. The news caused international outrage against Boko Haram and the Nigerian government. On 30 April and 1 May, protests demanding greater government action were held in several Nigerian cities. However, most parents were afraid of speaking publicly for fear their daughters would be targeted for reprisal. On 3 and 4 May, protests were held in major Western cities including Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
and London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.
Initially, usage of the hashtag came from individuals attempting to raise awareness of the kidnapping. Ibrahim M Abdullahi, a lawyer in Abuja
Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plann ...
, the capital of Nigeria, started the hashtag
A hashtag is a metadata tag that is prefaced by the hash (also known as pound or octothorpe) sign, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services such as Twitter or Instagram as a form of user-generated ...
#BringBackOurGirls in a tweet posted in April 2014 after listening to the former Federal Minister of Education Oby Ezekwesili
Obiageli "Oby" Ezekwesili (born 28 April 1963) is an economic policy expert, an advocate for transparency, accountability, good governance and human capital development, a humanitarian and an activist. She is a former vice president for the Worl ...
speak on the kidnappings at an event at Port Harcourt. It was then used by a group of Nigerian activists protesting about the government's slow response to the kidnapping to tag tweets as they marched down a highway in protest. The hashtag began to trend globally on Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
by May 2014 as a form of hashtag activism
Hashtag activism refers to the use of Twitter's hashtags for Internet activism. The hashtag, has become one of the many ways that social media contributes to civic engagement and social movements. The use of the hashtag on social media provides u ...
and the story spread rapidly internationally, becoming for a time Twitter's most tweeted hashtag. By 11 May it had attracted 2.3 million tweets and by 2016 it had been retweeted 6.1 million times. An official Twitter account for the movement was then set up, with a group of 20–30 people involved in its organization. Oby Ezekwesili
Obiageli "Oby" Ezekwesili (born 28 April 1963) is an economic policy expert, an advocate for transparency, accountability, good governance and human capital development, a humanitarian and an activist. She is a former vice president for the Worl ...
and Aisha Yesufu have both been described as co-founders or co-conveners of the movement. A $300,000 cash reward was initially offered by the movement to anyone who could help locate or rescue the girls from their kidnappers.
The movement has been involved in the organization of several protests against the Nigerian government's slow response to the kidnapping. Naomi Mutah and Saratu Angus Ndirpaya, two women who were involved in the leadership and organization of the protests, were detained by the Nigerian police reportedly because the First Lady of Nigeria
The first lady of Nigeria is an informal, but accepted title, held by the wife of the president of Nigeria. The current first lady is Oluremi Tinubu who has held the title since 29 May 2023.
The Constitution of Nigeria does not create an office ...
, Patience Jonathan
Dame Patience Faka Jonathan (''née'' iwari)(born 25 October 1957) is a Nigerian civil servant who served as the First Lady of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015 and second lady of Nigeria from 2007 to 2010. She is the wife of former president and Vice p ...
, "felt slighted" when they were sent to attend a meeting instead of some of the mothers of the kidnapped girls. Ndirpaya was released soon after, and stated that the First Lady had accused them of fabricating the abductions, whilst others at the meeting had accused the two of being members of Boko Haram. Several online petitions were created to pressure the Nigerian government to act against the kidnapping. On 30 April, hundreds of protestors marched on the National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
to demand government and military action against the kidnappers. Vigils and protests were held around the world to mark 100 days since the kidnapping. Participating countries included Nigeria, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Togo, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Portugal. Daily rallies by Bring Back Our Girls demonstrators at the Unity Fountain in Abuja
Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plann ...
were continuing to at least 5 January 2015, despite efforts by the police to shut down such protests. To mark a year since Boko Haram kidnapped the girls, on 13 April 2015 hundreds of protesters wearing red tape across their lips walked silently through the capital Abuja
Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plann ...
. Security forces are known to have detained protestors and dispersed crowds with armed police and water cannon
A water cannon is a device that shoots a high-velocity stream of water. Typically, a water cannon can deliver a large volume of water, often over dozens of meters. They are used in firefighting, large vehicle washing, riot control, and mining ...
.
The movement attracted support from several celebrities. Notable participants included Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai ( ur, , , pronunciation: ; born 12 July 1997), is a Pakistani female education activist and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Awarded when she was 17, she is the world's youngest Nobel Prize laureate, and the second Pak ...
, Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
, Chris Brown
Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. According to '' Billboard'', Brown is one of the most successful R&B singers of his generation, having often been referred to by many contempo ...
Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Forest Whitaker, various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award ...
, and then First Lady of the United States
The first lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is the title held by the hostess of the White House, usually the wife of the president of the United States, concurrent with the president's term in office. Although the first lady's role has never ...
Michelle Obama
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...
, who was photographed holding up a sheet of paper with the hashtag to support the movement and gave a public address on the kidnappings a few days later. Beyoncé had a separate section on her website that was dedicated to the movement.
The movement was criticized by some American conservatives, including Fox News
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
contributor George Will
George Frederick Will (born May 4, 1941) is an American libertarian-conservative political commentator and author. He writes regular columns for ''The Washington Post'' and provides commentary for NBC News and MSNBC.Hadas Gold, Gold, Hadas (May ...
, who stated that it was "not intended to have any effect on the real world" and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers who stated that the White House could not base its policy "on what's trending on Twitter". However, the hashtag has reportedly had an impact on Nigerian politics, with Oby Ezekwesili
Obiageli "Oby" Ezekwesili (born 28 April 1963) is an economic policy expert, an advocate for transparency, accountability, good governance and human capital development, a humanitarian and an activist. She is a former vice president for the Worl ...
, a notable #BringBackOurGirls activist, running for presidency in the 2015 Nigerian general election
General elections were held in Nigeria on 28 and 29 March 2015, the fifth quadrennial election to be held since the end of military rule in 1999. Voters elected the President and members to the House of Representatives and the Senate. The incu ...
. President Goodluck was criticized for using the hashtag "#bringbackgoodluck2015", a play on #BringBackOurGirls, during his reelection campaign in 2015. The newly-elected Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari
Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015.
Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 Au ...
, who gained power over Goodluck following the 2015 elections after promising to tackle Boko Haram, said during his inaugural address
In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony
A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event ...
to the nation on 29 May 2015 that they could not claim to "have defeated Boko Haram without rescuing the Chibok girls". Two weeks after President Buhari was sworn in, he, his wife Aisha Muhammadu Buhari, and the Vice President's wife Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo
Oludolapo Osinbajo, (''née'' Soyode, born 16 July 1967) is a Nigerian lawyer and political figure. As the wife of the Vice President of Nigeria Yemi Osinbajo, she has been the Second Lady of Nigeria since 29 May 2015.Yahaya BalogunDolapo Osinbaj ...
met with some mothers of the abducted girls.
Abubakar Shekau mocked the efforts of the movement in a video released by Boko Haram. The movement has also been attributed to a change in Boko Haram tactics, and was linked to an increase in gender violence in the group in order to increase their recognition. A report released by Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
in October 2014 on Boko Haram's violence against women and girls in Nigeria claims that, "The relative ease with which Boko Haram carried out the Chibok abductions seems to have emboldened it to step up abductions elsewhere." It has been reported that the international publicity for the Chibok schoolgirls has ironically made it more difficult to free the girls, with a military commander based in Maiduguri
Maiduguri is the capital and the largest city of Borno State
Borno State is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Yobe to the west, Gombe to the southwest, and Adamawa to the south while its eastern border form ...
stating that Boko Haram viewed the Chibok girls as their "".
Later abductions
2015
In January 2015, less than a year after the 2015 Chibok abduction, in the village of Malari, Borno State about 40 boys and young men were abducted by Boko Haram.
2018
In February 2018, approximately four years after the 2014 Chibok abduction, in the nearby town of Dapchi again another 110 schoolgirls were abducted by Boko Haram, with no government intervention intercepting the abductors yet .
A UNICEF
UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...
report released in April 2018, claimed that more than 1,000 children have been kidnapped by Boko Haram since 2013.
2020
In December 2020, more than 500 boys were abducted by a group of masked gunmen from a secondary school in Kankara, a town in Nigeria's northwestern state of Katsina. Later, Boko Haram took responsibility for the abductions. Seven days after the incident, 344 boys out of the group were released due to successful negotiations by the Nigerian government.
2021
In February 2021, three mass kidnappings occurred at schools in Nigeria. In the first incident, gunmen kidnapped over 40 people, including at least 27 students, from a school in north-central Nigeria. In the second incident, on 25 February, gunmen abducted 317 girls from the Girls Science Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State
Zamfara (Hausa: Jihar Zamfara Fula: Leydi Zamfara 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤣𞤭 𞤶𞤢𞤥𞤬𞤢𞤪𞤢) is a state in northwestern Nigeria. The capital of Zamfara state is Gusau and its current Governor is Bello Matawalle. Until 1996, the area was ...
. In March 2021, another mass kidnapping in Afaka resulted in 39 students (made up of 23 females and 16 males) being abducted from Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, in the Igabi
Igabi is a Local Government Area ( LGA) of Kaduna State, Nigeria. It is chaired by the Executive Chairman - Jabir Khamis, It is one of 774 local government areas in Nigeria. Rigasa ward is under Igabi LGA, one of the largest ward in terms of popu ...
local government area
A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...
of Kaduna State
Kaduna State ( ha, Jihar Kaduna جىِهَر كَدُنا; ff, Leydi Kaduna, script=Latn, ; kcg, Sitet Kaduna) is a state in northern Nigeria. The state capital is its namesake, the city of Kaduna which happened to be the 8th largest city in ...
.
In literature
Irish writer Edna O'Brien
Josephine Edna O'Brien (born 15 December 1930) is an Irish novelist, memoirist, playwright, poet and short-story writer. Elected to Aosdána by her fellow artists, she was honoured with the title Saoi in 2015 and the "UK and Ireland Nobel" D ...
's award-winning novel, ''Girl'', published in 2019, offers an imaginative idea of what the experience of being kidnapped, even ultimately leading to escape, might have been like through the eyes of a single schoolgirl.
See also
* ''Raptio
''Raptio'' (in archaic or literary English rendered as ''rape'') is a Latin term for the large-scale abduction of women, i.e. kidnapping for marriage, concubinage or sexual slavery. The equivalent German term is ''Frauenraub'' (literally ''wif ...
'' – large scale abduction of women
* Aboke abductions The Aboke abductions were the kidnapping of 139 secondary school female students from St. Mary's College boarding school by rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) on 10 October 1996, in Aboke, Kole District (then part of Apac District), Ug ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
Aisha Ahmad. 2019. "“We Have Captured Your Women”: Explaining Jihadist Norm Change." ''International Security'' 44(1):80–116.
Hilary Matfess. 2017. ''Women and the War on Boko Haram''. Zed Books.
Further reading
*
External links
* claiming responsibility for kidnappings
* features an activist-led campaign for the rescue of the students
@BringGirlsBack – A Twitter channel devoted to the kidnapped students
Why is the media ignoring 200 missing girls?
(Salon.com
''Salon'' is an American politically progressive/liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events.
Content and coverage
''Salon'' covers a variety of topics, including re ...
)
We want them all released
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