A decade on, tragedy of Nigeria’s Chibok Girls endures outside the spotlight
Chibok, Nigeria Reuters Ten years ago, Solomon Maina’s daughter, Debora, was one of 276 schoolgirls kidnapped from their dormitory in the middle of the night by Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamist militants. Global outrage was swift. A ubiquitous “Bring Back Our Girls” campaign, drawing support from the likes of Michelle Obama and Sylvester Stallone, shined a […]
Nigerian army hunts for kidnapped students, parents seek answers
Kaduna, Nigeria Reuters Nigerian soldiers were on Monday hunting for armed kidnappers who seized nearly 300 school pupils in Kaduna state last week, a security source said, as distraught parents sought answers on when they would be reunited with their children. The source said the army’s Kaduna-based One Division was leading the operation and “will […]
“I forced her to go to school”, Nigerian mother cries after mass school abduction
Kaduna, Nigeria Reuters Seven-year-old Safiya Kuriga complained she was feeling feverish but her mother still made her attend class on Thursday. Within two hours, gunmen entered her school and kidnapped Safiya and some 300 other students in Nigeria’s northern Kaduna state. “I forced her to go to school that morning despite her complaining to me […]
Chibok schoolgirl freed in Nigeria seven years after abduction, governor says
Maiduguri, NigeriaReuters One abducted girl from the Nigerian town of Chibok has been freed and reunited with her parents seven years after Boko Haram militants kidnapped her and more than 200 of her classmates, Borno state’s governor said on Saturday. The raid on the school in the north-eastern town one night in April 2014 sparked […]
Six years after girls kidnapped in Chibok, Nigeria, attacks persist in area
Jos, NigeriaMorning Star News Nearly six years after Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from a high school in northeastern Nigeria, the Chibok area in Borno state is under threat of “annihilation” from the rebel group and the Islamic State in West Africa Province, area leaders said. While 112 of the kidnapped girls remain in captivity, Boko […]
Nightmares, guilt and awards: five years after the Chibok kidnappings
Abuja, NigeriaThomson Reuters Foundation Five years after being kidnapped by Boko Haram, freed Chibok girls have nightmares about their 100 missing classmates and are burdened by guilt for surviving, while shielding parents of dead friends from the truth about their daughters’ fate. The mass abduction of 276 schoolgirls on 14th April, 2014, from their school […]
Families of freed Cameroonian kidnap victims feared Chibok repeat
Thomson Reuters Foundation The families of 80 pupils kidnapped from a school in western Cameroon before being released days later said they feared their children would face a similar fate to Nigeria’s Chibok girls. Kidnappers freed on Monday the last of 80-odd children taken hostage last week in a raid on a school in the […]
Hidden in diaries, untold stories of Boko Haram survivors feature in film
Thomson Reuters Foundation Untold stories of young Nigerian women kidnapped by Boko Haram highlight a documentary debuting on Monday that reveals diaries kept by survivors forbidden from talking about their captivity. The diaries, secretly given to the US-based documentary producers by former captives, detail life under the jihadist group that, according to the United Nations, […]
Nigerian president assures UK archbishop of efforts to secure release of Christian girl
World Watch Monitor Following a meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, has said his government is working “quietly” to secure the release of a teenage Christian girl kidnapped by Boko Haram. Archbishop Justin Welby, as well as Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, Nigerian Archbishop Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon, met Mr Buhari at […]
Chibok parents celebrate release of Nigerian schoolgirls as hope for own daughters
Thomson Reuters Foundation Yana Galang was visiting Dapchi in northeast Nigeria to offer condolences to parents whose daughters were kidnapped by Boko Haram when people started to shout with excitement. Her own daughter, Rifkatu, is still missing nearly four years after she and over 200 of her classmates were kidnapped by Boko Haram militants from […]