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Tag: Abducted girls

  • Boko Haram video shows abducted girls in ‘hijab’

    Boko Haram video shows abducted girls in ‘hijab’

    A new video released by the Boko Haram sect showed around 100 girls kidnapped from a school in Chibok, Borno State, last month.

    The group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, said the girls would be held until all imprisoned militants had been freed.

    He said the girls had converted to Islam. The video, released on Monday, showed them praying.

    Boko Haram abducted more than 200 girls from Chibok on April 14 and threatened to sell them.

    The BBC reports that Boko Haram’s comments showed signs that the group was willing to negotiate.

    Three of the girls are shown speaking in the 17-minute video, obtained by French news agency AFP, wearing the full-length hijab.

    Two girls said they were Christian and have converted to Islam, while the other said she is Muslim.

    “These girls, these girls you occupy yourselves with… we have indeed liberated them. These girls have become Muslims,” Abubakar Shekau said in the video.

    It is thought the majority of the abducted girls are Christians, although there are a number of Muslims among them.

    The BBC reports the girls appeared calm and one said that they had not been harmed.

    There is no indication of when or where the video was taken.

    It is estimated to show about 130 girls – just under half of the 276 pupils abducted from their school in Borno State.

     

  • I have information on abducted girls – Borno governor

    I have information on abducted girls – Borno governor

    The governor of Borno State, Kashim Sheetima, said he has information on the whereabouts of about 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by the Boko Haram sect.

    Shettima, according to the BBC, said he had passed reports on the sightings of the girls to the military for verification.

    The governor added that he did not think the girls had been taken across the border to Chad or Cameroon.

    Meanwhile, President Jonathan said an Israeli counter-terrorism team would arrive in Nigeria to help in searching for the schoolgirls, who were abducted last month in Borno State.

    Both the United States and United Kingdom distanced themselves from suggestions that they would send soldiers to take part in the military operation in the northern part of the country.

    “There’s no intention at this point to be putting any American boots on the ground” said U.S Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel on Sunday.

    UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, said it was unlikely Nigeria would ask for British troops to help, but he added: “I said to President Jonathan where we can help, please ask, and we will see what we can do.”

     

  • More foreign experts join search for abducted girls

    More foreign experts join search for abducted girls

    •Pope calls for prayers

    Israeli counter-terrorism experts have joined the search for the Chibok girls, presidential spokesman Reuben Abati said yesterday in a statement after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Abati said Jonathan was “very optimistic that with the entire international community deploying its considerable military and intelligence-gathering skills and assets in support of Nigeria’s efforts to find and rescue the abducted Chibok girls, success will soon be achieved”.

    He said the President accepted the Israeli offer to send a team of counter-terrorism experts to assist in the ongoing search and rescue operations.

    “The President briefed Mr. Netanyahu on actions already being taken by Nigeria’s armed forces and security agencies to locate and rescue the girls, saying that Nigeria would be pleased to have Israel’s globally-acknowledged anti-terrorism expertise deployed to support its ongoing operations.

    “Mr. Netanyahu, who expressed Israel’s total condemnation of the mass abductions, said the team of experts from his country, who will soon arrive in Nigeria, will work in collaboration with teams from the United States and Britain who are already in the country and their Nigerian counterparts to intensify the search for the girls.

    “He reaffirmed Israel’s willingness to give the government and people of Nigeria all possible support and assistance to overcome terrorism and insecurity.”

    The United States, Britain, France and China had earlier offered to help. The UK and the US team are already in Nigeria, working with the military.

    Close to 300 youngsters were kidnapped from a boarding school in Chibok, Borno State on April 15. It is believed that 53 managed to escape, but 273 are still missing.

    One of the teenagers who escaped from the Islamic extremists has said the kidnapping was “too terrifying for words”, and she is now scared to go back to school.

    Sarah Lawan, a 19-year-old science student, spoke yesterday as Nigerians prayed for the safety of the 276 students still held captive. Their prayers were joined by Pope Francis.

    Lawan told The Associated Press that more of the girls could have escaped but that they were frightened by their captors’ threats to shoot them. She spoke in the Hausa language in a phone interview from Chibok, her home and the site of the mass abduction.

    The failure to rescue those who remain captive four weeks later has attracted mounting national and international outrage. Last week, Nigeria accepted international help in the search, after ignoring offers for weeks.

    Pope Francis lent his voice to the ongoing social media campaign #BringBackOurGirls.

    The Pope asked Catholic faithful to pray for missing Chibok schoolgirls.

    The Pope tweeted:

    Let us all join in prayer for the immediate release of the schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria. #BringBackOurGirls

    — Pope Francis (@Pontifex) May 10, 2014

    Prime Minister David Cameron promised Sunday that Britain “will do what we can” to help find the girls.

    He made the comments as he held a sign bearing the #BringBackOurGirls hashtag on the BBC’s “Andrew Marr Show.”

    Cameron and Pope Francis are the latest high-profile supporters of the social media campaign. U.S. first lady Michelle Obama tweeted a photo of herself with a similar poster last week.

    #BringBackOurGirls has become the most popular hashtag in Nigeria this year, with the Twitter trend hitting over a million tweets. The hashtag has gone from a local trend to receiving international attention in the last seven days.

    The hashtag is also very popular on Facebook and Instagram, receiving over 150,000 posts on the latter.

    It has been posted by a number of global celebrities and personalities, actress Angelina Jolie and singer Chris Brown.

    The International Criminal Court said the number and intensity of attacks has risen sharply this year.

    It called on Boko Haram to release the girls immediately.

    “The troubling phenomenon of targeting females during conflict, this time, in Borno state, cannot be tolerated and must be stopped,” said prosecutor Fatou Bensouda. “No stone should be left unturned to bring those responsible for such atrocious acts to justice, either in Nigeria or at the ICC.”

    CIA Director John Brennan told the TV network Fusion that the United States is doing “everything we can” to determine the girls’ location, a mission President Barack Obama has made a priority.

    Worldwide protest continued yesterday. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, the Reverend Al Sharpton, and at least 200 local residents, and elected officials, all representing a cross section of activists and concerned citizens, took part in a rally in front of the Nigerian Consulate on Saturday afternoon. It was the second such gathering in front of the Consulate.

    The New York Mayor weighing in on the issue is significant for a locally elected official in the U.S.

    Most U.S. mayors and governors avoid speaking out on a global issue not directly touching their jurisdiction, even one as controversial as the kidnapping of the 200 plus female students in Nigeria.

    That mayor de Blasio spoke out, and marched alongside fellow citizens will likely change the tenor of the debate in America’s most international of cities. De Blasio, who addressed the crowd of roughly 200, said the kidnappings in Borno State “should be denounced around the world”. His wife and daughter at the march that assembled in front of the consulate joined the mayor.

    The Reverend Al Sharpton, and some members of his National Action Network team in Harlem, took part in the march and rally, bringing further media attention to the issue. Some Harlemites, like Lesha Sekou, marched the five-mile trek from uptown to the mid-town Nigerian consulate. Sekou, an anti-gun violence organiser, led a group of about 50 Harlem residents to the rally. She said that she was there because the 200 plus Nigerian school girls were abducted at gunpoint.

    Some Ghanaian women yesterday marched through the capital Accra, to demand the release of the schoolgirls.

    They presented a petition signed by over 300 people to the Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana, saying: “We are just a representative of the swelling voices of Ghanaians and other people round the world who believe that any extra second we spend not finding our girls is one second too many.”

    They held placards, which read: “Bring back our girls”; “Release the girls now”; and “We want action now’’.

    One of the leaders of the Ghanaian women that marched, Eugenia Techie Menson, Chief Executive Officer of Young Educators Foundation, said: “Girls have the basic right to be educated and to be girls; girls have the inalienable right to be girls.”

    The Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana, Ademola Oluseyi Onafonoka, after receiving the petition, said:”… Let me thank you for your out pouring of emotions, solidarity, for your empathy; I am assuring you as a father that our daughters will be found and brought back to all of us alive and well.’’

    The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has intensified collaboration with the Federal Government to combat cross border terrorist activities carried out by Boko Haram, ECOWAS Communication Director  Sonny Ugoh said yesterday.

    Ugoh says the regional bloc is also working with other neighboring regional organisations including the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) to improve security in their member states, following the girls’ abduction.

    “There is a collective sense that ECOWAS is willing and determined to support the Nigerian government to address this menace, because what affects one member state affects the others; that is the spirit of the ECOWAS Integration project.  There is a sense of solidarity [and] the value for the support of each other,” said Ugoh.

    His comments follow a U.N. Security Council demand for an unconditional release of the girls abducted by Boko Haram militants.

    The chairman of the ECOWAS commission, Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama, issued a solidarity statement to President Goodluck Jonathan to assure him of the regional bloc’s support to combat the Boko Haram militants.

    “There is recognition, both locally and internationally, that this is an unacceptable behavior.  And in response to that the international community has risen to support the ECOWAS position,” said Ugoh.  “ECOWAS is ready and willing to work with the Nigerian government to see how this [violence] can be addressed, and use the opportunity to also make a point about the need for us to now increase collaboration within West Africa.”

    “Some of the terrorism issues that we have to deal with have to do with the situation in the Sahel.  So there is a larger issue of the Sahel impact on [us],” said Ugoh.  “We are actively working to have a holistic response to these and then working beyond West Africa with our neighbors to see how we can collaborate in responding to the dynamics and the specifics of this in terms of the various manifestation of terrorism in West Africa.”

  • Gov. Shettima declares 3-day fasting for abducted girls

    Gov. Shettima declares 3-day fasting for abducted girls

    Gov. Kashim Shettima of Borno on Friday declared three days of prayers and fasting to seek divine intervention to rescue the more than 200 school girls abducted by insurgents in Chibok.

    The governor made the announcement while addressing members of the Kibaku Area Development Association (KADA), Chibok, who were protesting the abduction of the girls in Maiduguri.

    According to him, the fasting will take place between Monday and Wednesday, May 12 to May 14.

    “We are calling on all Muslims and Christians to embark on a three-day fasting to seek God’s help toward rescuing our girls.

    “All of us must fast because we worship the same God.’’

    “There is no politics or religious issues in this matter because the abduction of the girls is something that should bother us all as parents, uncles and guardians.

    Shettima expressed gratitude to the international community for the concerned shown over the abduction saga, especially the American first lady, Mrs Michelle Obama.

    The governor, who expressed shock that some individuals were expressing doubt over the genuineness of the abduction, said “it is unthinkable for anyone to say such a story could be fabricated.’’

    “We pray that our prayers will be answered and our girls returned safely back home.’’

    Earlier, Mr Alabe Grema, the Spokesman of KADA, had urged the Federal Government to take concrete steps to free the abducted girls.

    He said “my people have been facing psychological trauma following the abduction of the girls.’’

    Grema also presented a letter to Shettima for onward delivery to President Goodluck Jonathan on the issue.

  • Calabar school girls protest Chibok abduction

    Calabar school girls protest Chibok abduction

    Over 2, 000 secondary schools girls in Calabar, Cross River State, on Monday took to the streets to demand unconditional release of the abducted students of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.
    The girls, dressed in black, and from different secondary schools in the state marched through major streets in Calabar with placards that read, “Bring back our little sisters,’ “Our girls are future mothers, free our daughters,” “Dialogue is the best option, not kidnapping of girls,” “Why use women as tools for negotiation,” “We need a safe and secure Nigeria, not abduction of girls” and “Free our girls, stop bombing and let’s talk” among others.
    They were joined in the protest by members of the National Association of Cross River Students (NACRISS) and Civil Society and Non-Governmental organizations in the state.
    Some of the students who spoke with The Nation said they were concerned about the plight of the abducted students whose fate still remains unknown.
    They appealed to the Federal Government to ensure the urgent release of the kidnapped girls.
    “The victims and their parents should be saved the trauma they are passing through. These innocent girls should not be made sacrificial lambs.
    “Today, it is students of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, tomorrow some other persons may be affected,” one of the students said.
    The Co-ordinator, Basic Rights Counsel Initiative (a civil society organization), Comrade James Ibor, who also participated in the protest march said the safety of lives and property should be given priority attention by government.

     

     

     

  • Abducted girls: Obasanjo’s wife, Ogun First Lady join protest

    Abducted girls: Obasanjo’s wife, Ogun First Lady join protest

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s wife, Mrs. Bola Obasanjo and wife of Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun; Mrs. Olufunso Amosun, on Monday joined hundreds of women in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, to protest the abduction of over 200 female students of a government college in Chibok, Borno State.

    The protest which began at about 8am at the M.K.O Abiola Stadium, Kuto area took the women through IBB Boulevard and terminated at the Ogun State House of Assembly complex, where Mrs. Amosun presented their protest letter to the Speaker, Suraj Adekunbi , for onward delivery to President Goodluck Jonathan.
    The protesters also took their grievance to the Governor’s Office, Oke-Mosan.
    At the Governor’s office, they met Governor Amosun and demanded action from the federal government as well as unconditional and safe release of the innocent school girls by their abductors.
    The Iyalode of Yorubaland, Chief (Mrs.) Alaba Lawson; members of the International Federation of Women Lawyers, market women and female artisans, among others took part in the protest march.

    The women, who deplored the girls’ abduction displayed placards bearing various inscriptions: “Kidnapped school girls must be found,” “Our girls are not sex machine,” “Bring back our girls,””Haba!, this is barbaric in the 21st century” and “Let all our women rise to save our girls.”

    At the Ogun State Assembly complex, the state Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Elizabeth Sonubi, who addressed the lawmakers called on states and National Assembly members to take action towards freeing the girls from the terrorists.

    Sonubi also appealed to President Jonathan to help secure the girls’ release.

  • Elders list 180 abducted girls

    Elders list 180 abducted girls

    AMID the growing controversy on the number of girls abducted from the government school in Chibok, Borno State, the Northern States Christian and Elders Forum (NOCSEF) released yesterday 180 names of the April 15 incident’s victims.

    In a statement issued by President/Founder of Old Time Revival Hour, Kaduna and immediate past chairman of NNOCSEF, an affiliate of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Evangelist Matthew Owojaiye, the organisation said: “Chibok Local Government is 90 per cent Christian. Majority of the girls abducted are Christian. Why did Boko Haram visit Chibok Local Government? Why didn’t they visit so many other Local Government Girls Secondary Schools in Borno State?”

    The statement urged Christians to fight the Boko Haram insurgency with prayers.

    It said: “The Church in Nigeria is hereby called to a lamentation prayer.

    “Every Christian home must raise a lamentation to heaven daily. Let God arise and defend His name, honour and majesty.

    “Let a 15 minutes cry to heaven be done in every Church every time they gather. Oh God, rend the heavens and come down! Why should the people say where is our God?

    “The list is only of Christian girls. The others were not immediately known. Parent claimed that 234 girls are missing.

    “The military may not be able to solve the problem but prayer will. Ordinary military force may not get them out. Intensive agonising prayer will.”

    NOCSEF made three demands. They are:

    •N50million damages as trauma compensation to each girl;

    •overseas university scholarship for each of the girls by September.

    •transfer of SS1 and SS2 girls in that school to other schools

    The government is not negotiating with Boko Haram on the release of the abducted Chibok girls, President Goodluck Jonathan said last night.

    According to him, the government could not have been negotiating with “faceless” people.

    Dr. Jonathan spoke in a Media Chat from the Presidential Villa, broadcast on national television.

    The President promised parents, guardians and Nigerians that the government would rescue all the abducted girls.

    “We sympathise with parents and guardians of these girls,” he said, adding that the kidnapping of the innocent girls is painful and urged their parents and guardians to cooperate with security agencies to secure the girls’ freedom.

    He said the Federal Government was discussing with neighbouring countries  Benin Republic, Chad, Niger and those in the North-African sub-continent – to secure the girls’ release.

    The President expressed satisfaction with the efforts of the security agencies, noting that the activities of the terrorists were being checked across the country.

    Jonathan noted no group had claimed responsibility for the abduction.

    He described the girls’ kidnap and the Nyanya bomb blast as “worrisome”. He assured Nigerians that no stone would be left unturned to rescue the girls.

    Making reference to the missing Malaysian flight MH370, Jonathan said the girls’ disappearance cannot be another unresolved mystery. He dismissed allegations that the girls were been ferried abroad and married off, saying ‘‘they must still be within this area”.

    Said Jonathan: ‘‘Nigerians are justified to express anger and frustration, but we will continue to do our best. Since 11:45pm of April 15 that the girls were kidnapped, security personnel have been combing everywhere. Aircraft have been deployed to scan, soldiers have combed several places but yet we have not seen them.

    ‘‘Nigerians have not felt the efforts being made by security agencies because the misfortune happened in Borno, which has highest concentration of Boko Haram terrorists. Wherever the girls are, we will get them.

    ‘‘The incident is painful and traumatising. I extend sympathies to the parents and guardians of the girls but I want to also request their cooperation with security agencies. They have not been very cooperative; that is why the agencies have not been able to get clear identities (of the girls).

    ‘‘The police have record of 44 returned girls while the principal during my meeting with them, said 53 girls have returned,’’ he said.

    Asked if security agencies were unfit to tackle challenges facing the nation, Jonathan said they were capable, just as he acknowledged there was room for improvement.

    He said the government had attended to the need for the recruitment and training of more soldiers into the military to curb insurgency, adding that the security agencies needed to be adequately equipped.

    Jonathan urged Nigerians to desist from criticising the security agencies, who he said they should support because terrorism is not a conventional war.

    He acknowledged the support received from the international community, but urged them to avail Nigeria with equipment for intelligence gathering.

    On allegations that helicopters were used to supply materials to Boko Haram, Jonathan said: ‘‘We are playing politics with serious national security issues. Nobody has shown us a clip of the helicopter nor have they said the exact location where the supplies were being made.’’

    The president said Nigeria was hit by terrorism because it is the centre of the black race and its economy.

    He described the state of emergency declared in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa as “effective”, saying the government was consulting and would extend the rule should the need arise.

    Asked how the government was checking illegal immigrants to curb terrorism, Jonathan said actions were being taken but with caution because Nigeria is among the world’s worst migration offenders.

    On the government’s closure of public offices in Abuja for the World Economic Summit, Jonathan said it was to ease mobility and save the residents from long hours of traffic since many world leaders would attend the session.

    He said the summit would attract investors to the country and by extension, create jobs.

    However, the President said essential services and public utilities would be made available, urging Abuja residents to bear with the government.

    Jonathan evaded questions on his second term ambition. He said Nigerians should concern themselves more with how security and the economy could be improved between now and May 29, 2015 and not with his ambition.

    The President also denied there was any plan to increase petrol pump price, saying any marketer or filling station selling above the N97 was committing a criminal offence and should be arrested.

    Jonathan denied saying Boko Haram had infiltrated his cabinet. He said he never mentioned his “cabinet” but said the “government”, adding that ‘‘government is wide and people were investigated and are still being investigated’’.

    On poor electricity supply, he said the country’s major challenge was gas supply, but expressed hope that privatisation would boost supply.

    On employment, Jonathan said government’s target was to provide an enabling environment as it cannot create jobs for all Nigerians.

    In order to tackle the security challenges the President said he had been talking to foreign powers like the United States, United Kingdom and China requesting them to assist Nigeria in stemming the menace of terrorism.

    “I feel pain when I hear that Nigerians die because of Boko Haram madness, this thing cannot go on. The foreign countries have been helping in one way or the other.”

    He said most of the communities suspected to be the hideouts of the captors cannot be located by the military.

    On the effectiveness of the State of Emergency in the three states, Jonathan said the declaration of state of emergency does not mean that people in the states should be wiped out.

    “The people who are criticising state of emergency are doing so probably out of frustration or because they think it is taking too long.”

    On the N10 billion allegedly spent by the Minister of Petroleum Resources Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke, on private jet for her personal use, the president said given the nature of the job of the minister, the ministry is entitled to hire a jet for effective performance.

    He said the House of Representatives had politicised the matter, noting that the House is turning into “parliamentary dictatorship”.

    The President frowned at the frequent invitation of ministers by the National Assembly such that the minister spend a lot of time appearing before legislative committees to the detriment of their official duties.

    Commenting on the scarcity and increase in fuel price, the president said there is no plan to change pump price.

    “I cannot increase pump price through the backdoor, if I have to do it, I will make it public even if it will cost me my job. If someone manipulates pump price to punish Nigerians, he is a criminal.”

    The President expressed optimism that privatization of power sector in the country would lead to better and stable power supply.

    He said the critical problem facing the sector is lack of adequate gas supply for the generation of power. He said government is looking for money to meet the need of the sector to boost power generation .

    THE MISSING CHIBOK GIRLS.

    1 Deborah Abge
    2. Awa Abge
    3. Hauwa Yirma
    4. Asabe Manu
    5. Mwa Malam pogu
    6. Patiant Dzakwa
    7. Saraya Mal. Stover
    8. Mary Dauda
    9. Gloria Mainta
    10. Hanatu Ishaku
    11. Gloria Dama
    12. Tabitha Pogu
    13. Maifa Dama
    14. Ruth kollo
    15. Esther Usman
    16. Awa James
    17. Anthonia Yahonna
    18. Kume Mutah
    19. Aisha Ezekial
    20. Nguba Buba
    21. Kwanta Simon
    22. Kummai Aboku
    23. Esther Markus
    24. Hana Stephen
    25. Rifkatu Amos
    26. Rebecca Mallum
    27. Blessing Abana
    28. Ladi Wadai
    29. Tabitha Hyelampa
    30. Ruth Ngladar
    31. Safiya Abdu
    32. Na’omi Yahonna
    33. Solomi Titus
    34. Rhoda John
    35. Rebecca Kabu
    36. Christy Yahi
    37. Rebecca Luka
    38. Laraba John
    39 Saratu Markus
    40. Mary Usman
    41 Debora Yahonna
    42. Naomi Zakaria
    43 Hanatu Musa
    44. Hauwa Tella
    45. Juliana Yakubu
    46. Suzana Yakubu
    47. Saraya Paul
    48. Jummai Paul
    49. Mary Sule
    50. Jummai John
    51. Yanke Shittima
    52. Muli Waligam
    53. Fatima Tabji
    54. Eli Joseph
    55. Saratu Emmanuel
    56. Deborah Peter
    57. Rahila Bitrus
    58. Luggwa Sanda
    59. Kauna Lalai
    60. Lydia Emmar
    61. Laraba Maman
    62. Hauwa Isuwa
    63. Confort Habila
    64. Hauwa Abdu
    65. Hauwa Balti
    66. Yana Joshua
    67. Laraba Paul
    68. Saraya Amos
    69. Glory Yaga
    70. Na’omi Bitrus
    71. Godiya Bitrus
    72. Awa Bitrus
    73. Na’omi Luka
    74. Maryamu Lawan
    75. Tabitha Silas
    76. Mary Yahona
    77. Ladi Joel
    78. Rejoice Sanki
    79. Luggwa Samuel
    80. Comfort Amos
    81. Saraya Samuel
    82. Sicker Abdul
    83. Talata Daniel
    84. Rejoice Musa
    85. Deborah Abari
    86. Salomi Pogu
    87. Mary Amor
    88. Ruth Joshua
    89. Esther John
    90. Esther Ayuba
    91. Maryamu Yakubu
    91. Zara Ishaku
    93. Maryamu Wavi
    94. Lydia Habila
    95. Laraba Yahonna
    96. Na’omi Bitrus
    97. Rahila Yahanna
    98. Ruth Lawan
    99. Ladi Paul
    100. Mary Paul
    101. Esther Joshua
    102. Helen Musa
    103. Margret Watsai
    104. Deborah Jafaru
    105. Filo Dauda
    106. Febi Haruna
    107. Ruth Ishaku
    108. Racheal Nkeki
    109. Rifkatu Soloman
    110. Mairama yahaya
    111. Saratu Dauda
    112. Jinkai Yama
    113. Margret Shettima
    114. Yana yidau
    115. Grace Paul
    116. Amina Ali
    117. Palmata Musa
    118. Awagana Musa
    119. Pindar Nuhu
    120. Yana Pogu
    121. Saraya Musa
    122. Hauwa Joseph
    123. Hauwa kwakwi
    125. Hauwa Musa
    126. Maryamu Musa
    127. Maimuna Usman
    128. Rebeca Joseph
    129. Liyatu Habitu
    130. Rifkatu Yakubu
    131. Naomi Philimon
    132. Deborah Abbas
    133. Ladi Ibrahim
    134. Asabe Ali
    135. Maryamu Bulama
    136. Ruth Amos
    137. Mary Ali
    138. Abigail Bukar
    139. Deborah Amos
    140. Saraya Yanga
    141. Kauna Luka
    142. Christiana Bitrus
    143. Yana Bukar
    144. Hauwa peter
    145. Hadiza Yakubu
    146. Lydia Simon
    147. Ruth Bitrus
    148. Mary Yakubu
    149. Lugwa Mutah
    150 . Muwa Daniel
    151. Hanatu Nuhu
    152. Monica Enoch
    153. Margret Yama
    154. Docas yakubu
    155. Rhoda peter
    156. Rifkatu Galang
    157. Saratu Ayuba
    158. Naomi Adamu
    159. Hauwa Ishaya
    160. Rahap Ibrahim
    162. Deborah Soloman
    163. Hauwa Mutah
    164. Hauwa Takai
    165. Serah Samuel

    Muslim Girls
    166. Aishatu Musa
    167. Aishatu Grema
    168. Hauwa Nkeki
    169. Hamsatu Abubakar
    170. Mairama Abubakar
    171 Hauwa Wule
    172. Ihyi Abdu
    173. Hasana Adamu
    174. Rakiya Kwamtah
    175. Halima Gamba
    176. Aisha Lawan
    177. Kabu Malla
    178. Yayi Abana
    179. Falta Lawan
    180. Kwadugu Manu

  • Abducted girls: APC Women urge FG to seek help from UN Security Council

    Abducted girls: APC Women urge FG to seek help from UN Security Council

    The All Progressive Congress (APC) Women yesterday urged the Federal Government (FG) to seek help from member nations of the UN Security Council to rescue the 234 abducted girls from Chibok, Borno state.

    A statement issued yesterday in Abuja by the Interim National Women Leader of the party, Sharon Ikeazor, said the fact that the girls are yet to be rescued means that the Nigeria security agents are either overwhelmed or limited in their rescue operations.

    She said the Nigerian army is operating under very difficult situation, but urged them to double up efforts to rescue the girls.

    “To the Nigerian Army, we know you are operating under a very difficult situation and are demoralised, but you must rise to the challenge.

    “You have won commendations and laurels in UN peace keeping missions outside of Nigeria; we believe you can do the same in your home country,” she said.

    “To our abducted daughters, please remember Malala, the 16-year-old Pakistani girl who stood up to the Taliban and defended her right to education.

    “You all have courage despite the security situation in your area, to continue with your education”

    “You will come home and complete your education. We will not rest till every single one of you is returned home. Malala has put education at the top of the global development agenda and so have you,”she said.

    The statement condemned the tactics by Boko Haram, describing the act as barbaric and inhuman.

    In a related development, the Lagos State chapter of the party’s women wing has also called on President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure that the over 200 school girls abducted by the insurgents in Borno State are rescued.

    The party’s women leader in the state, Mrs Kemi Nelson, said at a press conference in Lagos yesterday that as mothers, the women were unhappy that more than two weeks after the girls were snatched from their school they were yet to be found and returned to their parents.

    Nelson said the women were even more saddened by the slow response of the government to the kidnapping in the first few days the girls were captured and the ambivalence of the current leadership in arresting the situation.

    She said the “slow and lethargic” response of the Jonathan administration and the security apparatus in handling the abduction of the girls as well as the security situation in the North East has led many Nigerians to lose confidence in the Federal Government’s competence in protecting lives and property.

    She declared: “We the APC women join our voices with those of all other mothers and women across the country to demand that this government finds and brings back our daughters. With the resources and security machinery at its disposal, this government has run out of excuses on this particular matter.

    “We as mothers and women will not stop at just street protests to demand for action.”

  • U.S offers to help in search for abducted girls

    U.S offers to help in search for abducted girls

    The United States is prepared to help Nigeria in the search for the 234 girls abducted by the Boko Haram sect from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.
    “We have been engaged with the Nigerian government in discussions on what we might do to help support their efforts to find and free these young women,” State Department Spokeswoman, Marie Harf, told reporters on Thursday.
    “We will continue to have those discussions and help in any way we can.”
    The terrorists stormed the school on April 14, packed the teenagers onto trucks and motorcycles before disappearing into a remote area along the border with Cameroon.
    The kidnapping occurred the same day a bomb blast, also blamed on Boko Haram, killed 75 people on the edge of the capital, Abuja, and it marked the first attack on the FCT in two years.
    The abduction has shocked Nigerians long accustomed to hearing about atrocities in an increasingly bloody five-year-old insurgency especially in the Northeast. Boko Haram is now seen as the main security threat to the country.
    Harf did not elaborate on the kind of assistance Washington is offering, but said: “We know Boko Haram is active in the area and we have worked very closely with the Nigerian government to build their capacity to fight this threat.”
    Separately, a group of U.S senators introduced a resolution condemning the abduction and urging U.S government assistance in the rescue effort.
    “The U.S and the international community must work with the Nigerian government to ensure these girls are reunited with their families and deepen efforts to combat the growing threat posed by Boko Haram,” said Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, the chairman of the Senate’s African Affairs subcommittee, and one of the resolution’s six sponsors.

     

  • Police collate data on abducted girls

    The Commissioner of Police in Borno, Alhaji Lawan Tanko, on Friday appealed to parents whose wards were abducted in Chibok to forward the names and photographs of the girls for documentation.
    Tanko, who made the appeal at a news briefing in Maiduguri, said the move followed difficulties in accessing the records of the girls due to the burning down of the school by the abductors.
    “We want to appeal to parents of the abducted girls to please come forward with the names and photographs of their wards, so we can come up with a tentative figure of those missing.
    “The April 14 attack on the school by suspected insurgents has damaged the entire structure, including the administrative building where records were kept.
    “This makes it difficult to get records on the number of girls actually abducted at the school,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the police commissioner as saying at the briefing.
    Tanko said available information had revealed that 530 candidates registered at the school for the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination.
    “Candidates from five areas – Ashigashiya, Izge, Chibok, Waraba A, and Lassa, registered at the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, for the SSCE,” Tanko said.
    He noted also that it was still not clear on the number of girls that were abducted when the insurgents attacked the school.
    “At present, there are flying figures on the actual number of girls abducted.
    “About 276 students were allegedly abducted by the insurgents going by claims of the people.
    “Out of the number, 53 have regained their freedom, and going by the figure about 223 girls are believed to be in the abductors’ den.
    “But we need the parents and guardians to come forward with genuine claims like names and photographs so we can get the actual figure,” the police chief said.