Bring Back Our Girls

Mrs Laila St Matthew-Daniel is one of the voices fighting against abuse of women in Nigeria. She is a Life Transformation Strategist and founder of ACTS Generation, an NGO against domestic violence.She is championing the ‘Bring back the abducted Chibok girls’ campaign held in Lagos. In this interview, she speaks on the abduction.

The abduction of the Chibok girls happened in a state under emergency rule while another eight were kidnapped. What is your take on the situation?
How could this happen in a state under emergency rule? Terrorists had four hours operation and carted away the girls without help from anybody after which they journeyed into the forest. Remember the principal was said to be there; and the next minute, they said she was at her daughter’s place. There is discrepancy about the number of the kidnapped students. At times you wonder if we have leaders.
The hatch tag, “Bring Back Our Girls”, was initiated by a South African activist on social media. She was just wondering how, in the 21st century, people could go into schools and cart away students. So she said everybody should begin to say it and, when we had our rally, we decided to use it, and before we knew it, it went viral.

My take is that this is beyond Nigeria. Everybody must work together to bring back the girls and I am happy that the international community including the non-English speaking countries are ready to work with us to bring back the girls
President Jonathan said while inaugurating the Chibok girls rescue committee that, “we must bring back our daughters”. I think he is optimistic that the girls will be rescued.
 INTERVIEW: How ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ Campaign Went Viral— Matthew Daniel

One is happy to hear that but saying that we are not prepared for this type of terrorist attack shows how unserious we are as a nation. Remember they said they want to turn this country to an Islamic state. We should note that they attack in different ways. Most times they attack the soft targets and as you face the soft targets, they launch another terrible attack. I am happy that government instead of allowing pride to take the better part of them accepted help from outside.

The US anti-terror experts are here already but some northern leaders say they should stay away promising to negotiate with Boko Haram to bring back the girls.
It is too late to do that. What have they been doing going to four weeks? So, they can negotiotiate and hundreds of lives are lost everytime? The US officials are here and many will come. The incessant killings must stop. I know US is not only going to ameliorate what has happened but will also find out what is on ground. It is sad that leaders like them could come out at this time to stop help that can end the insurgency in the North. All we want is peace.
What can you say about the boldness of the Boko Haram leader, Shekau, saying he will sell the Christian girls and the Muslims among them, he will marry them out?

That is why we need international help because it is beyond Nigeria. If there is an international market where human beings are sold, then it should be exposed.
We need to continue to pray and also put pressure on our government because we don’t have arms and ammunition but our voices. We are the voice for those who do not have voices. Some people said the parents of the kidnapped children should be more inspired, How? You know their culture about women. They have been facing this problem for years and nothing has been done. Trust has broken down totally. We don’t know who to trust again. We don’t know who to believe. The parents said they went to Sambisa forest and they didn’t see any soldier on their way? There are so many questions to be asked. We have gotten to the point that nobody should be afraid because people want answers to the challenges posed by terrorism. Our leaders should begin to respect the people and the people themselves should begin to demand for explanation. Why should a protest march be stopped in Kogi State by the police?

Our President too said he cannot negotiate with the people he doesn’t know because nobody has come out to take responsibility for kidnapping the children; shortly after, Shekau released a video. I was thinking Madam Jonathan will mobilize women on the streets and carry placards but instead she said they should not protest.
Shekau got that confidence because he could see that we are toothless bull dogs. He can see that we are busy fighting ourselves as Christians and Muslims. No respect for women. What they think women are for is to make babies. They don’t want them to have education because they know if they do, they will refuse the demonic power the men have over them. They don’t even want their boys to go to school. They don’t want Western education, yet the guns they use, the armoured tank in the video he released are the products of the West; what about their means of communication? Are they not from Western education? It is just more than that
We are celebrating Children’s Day on May 27. We do hope the children will be back before then.
It has never happened in the history of Nigeria that our girls will not be celebrating. So we are hopeful they will be back with everybody working together including the international community. Our girls must come back. The position of Nigeria women is that all these girls should be brought back alive. That is when Nigerians will believe that our government is serious and will gain our confidence again.

In the local Hausa language, Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden". So the abductions show the group's visceral hatred for Western education. Moreover, the group promotes the puritanical Islamic view that a woman's place is in the home.

The militants have attacked schools before. The school in Chibok, which was hosting final year exams for Christian and Muslim schoolgirls, was one of the only ones still open in this remote area of Borno state and had no security protection that night.

Nigerian students living in fear
When it attacked a rural boarding school in Yobe in March, Boko Haram killed at least 29 males - but spared the lives of girls, ordering them to go home and get married. Some analysts believe that Boko Haram felt its order had been defied, and it has retaliated with the Chibok abductions in order to impose its will.

However, there is a precedent for abductions - in May 2013, Boko Haram released a video, saying it had taken women and children - including teenage girls - hostage in response to the arrest of its members' wives and children. At the time, the group said it would treat the women as slaves - something it has also said about the Chibok girls. This has fuelled speculation that it is adhering to the ancient Islamic belief that women captured in conflict are part of the "war booty".

Who are Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamists?


How Kidnapped Chibok Girls Were Moved From Sambisa Forest To Ashaka Forest

The kidnapped Chibok girls have been moved from the Sambisa forest towards the forest around Ashaka in Gombe State, a top security official has told PREMIUM TIMES.
The security official, who sought anonymity as he was not authorised to speak, also denied the rumor that some of the girls were rescued on Saturday.
He, however, said there were high hopes for the quick rescue of the girls based on the ongoing cooperation between Nigerian officials and their counterparts from the U.S. and U.K. on the rescue efforts.
“It is not true that they have been rescued yet, but we noticed and observed movement of some of the girls from the Sambisa region towards Ashaka forest in Gombe state”, said the security personnel.
The officer added that efforts are being put in place to “carefully track” the abductors and get the girls freed.
“We have not, even for once, lost hope that these girls would be freed. This is a delicate matter which must be handled with all professionalism and absolute care”, the source added.
For almost a month that the over 250 girls were kidnapped from the Government Secondary School, Chibok, the Nigerian military has decided not to provide information on details of its rescue efforts.
The military has, however, said it is doing its best to free the girls.
In a response to PREMIUM TIMES enquiry on the reported sightings of the girls at the Gombe forest, military spokesperson, Chris Olukolade, said “this will have to be verified as no such information has been received. However, every information gets acted upon somehow.”

Fifty-eight children have escaped, some of them by jumping off trucks in which they were being transported after some 200 gunmen captured them at the school. "We ran into the bush and waited until daybreak before we went back home," one girl told the BBC.

Associated Press news agency reported that an intermediary is in contact with the abductors. It reported that two children had died of snakebites and 11 were ill. But just how many are still in captivity is unclear. Children from neighbouring areas had been at the school to write their exams when Boko Haram carried out its offensive. School records were burnt during the attack, making it difficult to establish, officials say, how many were taken away. Officials also say more children may have escaped, with their families failing to report their return to the authorities.

 http://www.osundefender.org/?p=164199

With outrage. Nigeria is heavily split along religious and ethnic lines, but all the main groups have united to put pressure on the government to secure their release. Protests have been organised over social media using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls. President Goodluck Jonathan's critics says the government has handled the crisis badly, and he should step down rather than run for another term in elections next year. His allies respond that the abductions took place in an opposition-controlled state, and the abductions reflect more badly on the opposition than the federal government.

Nigeria leader under pressure over abducted schoolgirls

Nigeria school abduction sparks social media campaign

President Jonathan imposed a state of emergency in the three insurgency-hit states, Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, in May 2013, but Boko Haram has retaliated by stepping up attacks and the insurgency has entered its bloodiest phase. More than 1,500 have died this year alone in the violence. Government troops say they are poorly resourced and do not have the firepower to rival Boko Haram.

Not only does the group operate like a guerrilla movement, but it also resembles an army with ground forces. Hundreds of its fighters have marched into villages, backed by pick-up trucks and armoured vehicles mounted with machine guns. So it has a military arsenal usually found in a national army.
It is not clear where Boko Haram gets its weapons or financing - it may have made money from its recent kidnapping of foreigners. The government suspects it is backed by certain politicians and disloyal security officers - and it has forged ties with jihadi groups such as al-Shabab in Somalia and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Although some dispute this, the increasingly sophisticated nature of its attacks - including bombings and assassinations - suggest that it has received foreign training. There are also unconfirmed reports that it recruits poor people from neighbouring states, including Chad and Niger, and pays them to fight.


          Bring Back Our Girls Rally in Chicago


By Peter Bella, Saturday at 4:44 pm
On Saturday afternoon several hundred people gathered in Daley Plaza to support the Bring Back Our Girls movement. Bring Back Our Girls is a world wide movement protesting the kidnapping of Nigerian girls from their school by the terrorist group, Boko Haram in April.
There are approximately 50, 000 people from Nigeria living in Chicago and the suburbs.

Reverend Jesse Jackson and United States Congressman Danny Davis spoke to the crowd and participated in a march around the downtown area.
Several people and children had the names of the kidnapped girls written on their shirts.
After the rally in Daley Plaza, the supporters marched to Michigan Avenue and back.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day. Let us remember those mothers in Nigeria who lost their daughters
                 Bring Back Our Girls Says Michelle Obama

               
                 Boko Haram leader: 'I abducted your girls'


                 Chibok Girls: First Lady Meets Stakeholders

As efforts continue towards rescuing the abducted school girls from the Government Girls Secondary School Chibok in Borno State, First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan was on Friday Night briefed that 530 students were enrolled for the West African Examination Council when the abduction took place. The revelation by the head of WAEC National Office Mr. Charles Eguridu appears to be a major lead in the resolution of conflicting information about the number of girls abducted by the insurgents.