Saturday, 14th April marks the fourth anniversary of the abduction of 276 girls from a secondary boarding school in Nigeria’s north-eastern town of Chibok.
At least 165 of them were believed to be Christian, according to a list of names and a statement released by the Christian Association of Nigeria weeks after their kidnapping.
The statement, issued by evangelist Matthew Owojaiye, said Chibok is 90 per cent Christian, indicating the mass abduction was a religiously motivated crime.
Some 57 of the 276 girls managed to flee in the first few weeks after their kidnapping. The first to be found was Amina Ali Nkeki, a Christian girl, on 17th May, 2016, in the Sambisa Forest.
More than 100 have been either found or freed so far, including a group of 82 girls released in May, 2017, in exchange for an undisclosed number of Boko Haram commanders, while 21 others were released in October 2016.
On 4th January, 2018, the Nigerian Army announced it had rescued another of the schoolgirls kidnapped in Chibok.
The girl, identified as Salomi Pogu, was found in Pulka, in the north-eastern state of Borno, with another girl, aged 14, who was carrying a baby with her.
Of the 276 girls kidnapped four years ago, 112 are still missing.
Christian charity Open Doors International, which works through local church partners in Nigeria, shared footage of some of the abducted girls’ parents with World Watch Monitor.
