A rally has been held in Belfast calling the release of more than 300 schoolgirls taken from northern Nigeria by Boko Haram. A rally has been held at Belfast City Hall calling for the release of Nigerian schoolgirls abducted last month by Boko Haram.
Dorcas Obikoya, from the Nigerian Association Northern Ireland, said: "We are telling the Nigerian government to look into the actions of the Boko Haram and release those children. Their parents are in agony.
"We are appealing to all Nigerians, and all Nigerian friends to support us to campaign for bringing our girls back.
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| Nigeria schoolgirls kidnap: Belfast holds #BringBackOurGirls rally as President Goodluck Jonathan snubs grieving families |
"We see support from the PSNI, and support from the city council. It is all over the news here in Northern Ireland, so it is very, very amazing the support we received in Northern Ireland."
Meanwhile the parents of Nigeria’s missing schoolgirls left their homes and made the journey to the burnt remains of the Chibok school where their daughters were captured more than a month ago.
They had come to see President Goodluck Jonathan, whose failure to appear in the village where more than 300 girls were taken by Islamic extremists had become a symbol of how this north-eastern outpost has felt neglected by central government.
By 8am relatives of the abducted pupils – as well as some of the young women who managed to escape Boko Haram – were gathered at Chibok government secondary school in Borno, waiting expectantly for the man who they thought had forgotten them. But then, after more than an hour of sitting around, a call came through to the school’s principal, Asabe Kwambura. Jonathan would not be coming.
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| Nigeria schoolgirls kidnap: Belfast holds #BringBackOurGirls rally as President Goodluck Jonathan snubs grieving families |
The apparent explanation – one which was not well-received by parents – was that the region was too unsafe for a presidential visit.
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| Nigeria schoolgirls kidnap: Belfast holds #BringBackOurGirls rally as President Goodluck Jonathan snubs grieving families |
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| Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan |
As a Christian from the south of the country, Jonathan has been accused of being indifferent to the fate of the predominantly Muslim north which has had to tolerate violent clashes with Islamic extremists for the past five years.
His conspicuous absence from Chibok at a time when the fate of the kidnapped schoolgirls has attracted international concern has only cemented this feeling.
Pastor Enoch Mark, who lost two daughters in the kidnapping, said of the president’s cancellation: “I’m really, really disappointed by his failure to come to us”.
Pastor Mark was in Abuja when he heard the visit had not taken place. “The school is burnt to ashes,” he said. “The President needs to see the damage that has been done to the school and the town. People are highly annoyed about it because he’s our head of state.”
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| We are here in Zimbabwe and we have created out own Facebook page and have joined the Africa Campaign: Bring Back Our Girls: (https://www.facebook.com/BringBackOurGirlsAfri) Like our page so that we can shout together so that Boko Haram can bring back our girls! |
In total, more than 300 students were taken from the Chibok Government Girls Secondary School on 15 April. Police say 53 managed to escape and 276 remain in captivity.
The girls were initially taken to Sambisa Forest, an area twice the size of Rwanda. It is thought they may still be there as it is a known Boko Haram hideout. Its vegetation also fits with that visible in the background of a video released by the group on Monday that showed around 130 captured girls.
Tsambido Hosea Abana, 51, has three nieces and two cousins among the missing girls. The civil servant has been running rallies for the abducted schoolgirls in Abuja, where he is chairman of the Chibok Community.
“As of now I don’t know what the government is doing,” he said, “I want the girls to be released.”
“When I heard the news I cried. At first I thought ‘they are going to kill them’. I cried bitterly for the whole week. But now there’s hope after seeing them on television.”
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| We are here in Zimbabwe and we have created out own Facebook page and have joined the Africa Campaign: Bring Back Our Girls: (https://www.facebook.com/BringBackOurGirlsAfri) Like our page so that we can shout together so that Boko Haram can bring back our girls! |
Although the sight of some of the girls in the video released by Boko Haram on Monday has given him relief, he only spotted one cousin among them.
“Since I have seen some faces on the screen I believe they will come back alive. That is my prayer. Although I have five relatives among the missing I’ve seen only one, my cousin, on the video.”
Allen Manasseh, a community leader whose younger sister, Maryamu Wavi, is among the missing, said the President’s protracted absence was having political consequences.
“His popularity has declined. This community in Chibok is supportive of his party. We’ve been voting for his party for the past 12 years. But now, people are really angry. What is the reason for supporting a political party that can’t come to your aid in moments of grief?”
He said that despite this he was behind the government’s decision not to agree to Boko Haram’s demand for released prisoners in exchange for girls. “Why should there be a prisoner swap with innocent girls? It’s a very bad signal to the nation if that’s done”, he said.
“What we should be saying is they should be compelled to release these girls unconditionally.”
Like Mr Abana, Mr Manasseh could not see his relative in the video, amid ongoing confusion over whether the remainder of the girls are still in the country – or even still alive.
“I could not recognise my sister in the video,” said Mr Manasseh. “Those that escaped told us they selected girls that looked older and they were put ahead of the smaller ones. My sister is a bit plumpy, so I suspect she’s one of those [who] was sent further away.”
The President’s failure to appear will not improve morale in Nigeria’s army, which some reports suggest is now near mutiny at a time when it is supposed to be intensifying its efforts in the region.
Troops complain that they are outnumbered and outgunned by the insurgents, are not properly paid and have to scavenge for food.
Funds are also limited in Chibok. Ms Kwambura does not know how she will educate the girls that remain, or for how long they will be safe from Boko Haram.
Update: Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan 'will visit kidnapped girls' town'
The Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan will visit the town where 223 girls were kidnapped by Islamist terror group Boko Haram, according to his financial aide.
After cancelling a trip to Chibok yesterday, Dr Doyin Okupe, the president’s senior special assistant, confirmed that President Jonathan would be organising another visit to the town at some point in the future.
Speaking to Sky News, Dr Okupe said: "The president will visit Chibok and we will get them released"
He added that they would do "whatever it took" to get the girls back safely.
Okupe also said that the belief that Mr Jonathan had decided against visiting Chibok because of safety concerns was a “misconception.”
We are here in Zimbabwe and we have created out own Facebook page and have joined the Africa Campaign: Bring Back Our Girls: (https://www.facebook.com/BringBackOurGirlsAfri) Like our page so that we can shout together so that Boko Haram can bring back our girls!
