BY ORIAKU IJELE
It’s exactly 9 years since some Nigerian school girls were abducted in Chibok town, Borno State. That event, unarguably was the watershed of the PDP-led government as global condemnation trailed the government’s inability to nip such security infractions in the bud.
Ingeniously, that incident set the stage for a coordinated ouster of the PDP from Aso Rock Villa as that gave the then opposition, All Progressives Congress the leeway to consolidate on their campaigns. Top on the list of promises was that the girls would be rescued the moment a President with military background like Muhammadu Buhari assumes power. The votes came in in torrents, with so much expectations but 8 years and two terms in its twilight, news about Chibok Girls have remained unpalatable.
According to Opendoors, a civil society group, about 38 of the parents of the students have passed on without realising the dream of reuniting with their daughters who were abducted in 2014.
Since then, the students have been released in batches, including several last year. Around 100 are believed to still be in captivity. For the parents, the agonising pain and uncertainty has been unbearable. Many have died because of sorrow-induced health issues.
“We lost 38 parents in the first three years of this kidnapping,” says Yakubu Nkeki, the chairman of the Chibok Girls’ Parents’ Association. “The slightest illness can take their life due to high blood pressure. They are in so much pain, because they think too much”.
Earlier this year, Open Doors local partners visited some of the parents. Ishaya was one of them, who added, “Even if our girls have died, we want somebody to inform us. Because then we can finally give up hope.”
“It was on a Tuesday evening around 6.30pm, when we heard about the kidnapping,” shares Mary Abdullahi, another parent. “We rushed to the school. The building was still burning. I saw fathers and mothers rolling on the ground, crying. From that day, I started struggling with high blood pressure. I am still suffering from high blood pressure and stomach aches. Even today I am in pain. I endure thanks to painkillers. It is all caused by fretting over my daughter’s abduction. I always used to be such a strong woman.”
“We have not heard any news until today,” adds Mary. “Are they dead? Are they alive? As a mother, I refuse to accept that my daughter is dead or alive, until I have heard reliable news.”
Daily Times recalls that on the night of 14 to 15 April 2014, 276 mostly Christian female students aged from 16 to 18 were kidnapped by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram from the Government Girls Secondary School at the town of Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria. 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.
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 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, 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, 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.