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Militants seized about 230 girls in
the dead of the night at a high school in the nation's far northeast, a hotbed
for Islamist group Boko Haram.
Armed men herded the girls out of
bed and forced them into trucks on April 16 in the town of Chibok. The convoy
of trucks then disappeared into the dense forest bordering Cameroon.
Roughly 200 girls are still missing,
although the authorities and parents differ on the number.
Nigerians have rallied for days to
criticize the government's handling of the rescue efforts. Hundreds wept and
chanted "bring back our girls" during protests in the capital of
Abuja on Wednesday. A day later, protesters gathered in Lagos.
Shortly after the abductions last
month, frustrated Chibok residents went into the forest in motorbikes to search
for the girls.
During their nine-hour trek, they
never saw a single soldier in the forest where authorities believe the
militants took the girls, said Enoch Mark, whose daughter and two nieces were
among the kidnapped.
"A total of 230 parents
registered the names of their daughters who were missing on the day of the
kidnap," said Asabe Kwambura, principal of the Government Girls Secondary
School. "From my records, 43 girls have so far escaped on their own from
their kidnappers. We still have 187 girls missing." Boko Haram still holding the school girls captive.
In Chibok, angry parents accused
authorities of playing politics with the lives of their children.
Witnesses have seen militants in
dozens of vehicles headed to nearby Cameroon, said Ayuba Alamson, whose two
nieces were among the kidnapped. In a statement Thursday, Nigeria's Defense
Ministry said it's committed to the search.
"A lot of information has been
received in the efforts at securing the freedom of the girls. The armed forces
assures all Nigerians that it will continue to appraise every information
received during this operation accordingly," it said. .
"While it will not relent in
its efforts in this search, the armed forces is mindful of the fact that some
of the information with which it has been inundated are actually a ploy to
distract it from its goal of dealing with terrorism and other violent crimes
aimed at crippling the nation."
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| former minister of Education Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili leading |
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