Yesterday was exactly 6 months since more than 200 Nigerian girls were abducted from school by the terrorist group-Boko Haram.
Though the disappearance and the fight against Boko Haram, a group which has gone on to abduct more girls since then is not making strong headlines, singer Alicia Keys has not forgotten about the girls.
She held a protest in New York yesterday, holding #BringBackOurGirlsNOW to remind world leaders that, the girls are still missing and something must be done NOW.
Some good news from afar, amidst all these gloom about Castro’s demise in Ghana.
63 out of 68 women and girls captured last month by Boko Haram are reported to have escaped from the clutches of the Islamist Militant group.
Boko Haram caused a stir in April when they captured over 200 girls who have still not been found to this day. The group also captured 68 more last month near Damboa, a town in Borno State; and it is from this second group of captives that the women and girls are said to have escaped. Five women however, have still not been found.
The captives took the initiative to escape when the Boko Haram members went out to carry out a tactical operation.
They however found themselves in trouble, as the Nigerian Military forces taking them on routed them and the group was forced to mobilise all its members and flee the battle.
The captives then realised that they were alone, took the initiative and escaped the camp.
This is good news to warm the heart, made even better by the announcement of Nigerian forces they killed over fifty rebels in the clash that led to the escape of the girls.
These Boko Haram animals have been terrorising their country for too long, and this recent trend of focusing on capturing women and children, particularly girls is a worrying one.
Though we seem to have forgotten about them on social media, the over 200 girls who were kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria are still missing—and officials say they are still on a search for these girls.
Former UK Prime Minister- Gordon Brown has called for British forces to be deployed to Nigeria to aid the rescue of the schoolgirls being held captive by Islamic militants.
Speaking to MPs last night, Gordon Brown said the failure to rescue the girls, who were kidnapped by the terrorist group Boko Haram two months ago, demanded an ‘international and domestic response’.
‘We have to do more to help the Nigerian government secure the rescue of the girls,’ he said.
I love social media for the fire it can ignite but it seems most of the quickly ignited social media talks and campaigns do not last—users move to something else within days.
About two months ago, over 200 young Nigerian girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram and the Nigerian Government’s failure to act swiftly led to series of demonstration—giving rise to the social media campaign which centred about the hashtag-BringBackOurGirls .
From head of States to celebrities to everybody on social media, it was all about the kidnapped girls—but today, we seem to have forgotten about these girls even though they are still being held hostage.
The power of social media cannot be undermined, but what is power if it does not linger on to ensure that the set goal is achieved?
