Girls who escaped from Boko Haram arrive in the US to finish school

A small group of girls who escaped from Boko Haram have secured funding to go to America to finish school. The BBC's Tomi Oladipo followed the girls on their journey from Nigeria to the US.
SOURCE - BBC World Service Radio on SoundCloud

Oby Ezekwesili reacts to the capture of Chibok town by Boko Haram

Former Education Minister and one of the conveners of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, has reacted to the news of the capture of Chibok town, saying it breaks her heart.
And it sure affects us all too, it's sad that while we are still recovering from the capture of the Chibok girls , the town itself is now being ruled by BH power. May God help us all

Boko Haram reportedly capture Chibok town

According to a breaking news report by AFP, Boko Haram men have captured Chibok community. A serving senator from Borno state and a resident Pastor confirmed the development to AFP.

"Chibok was taken by Boko Haram. They are in control," said Enoch Mark, a Christian pastor whose daughter and niece are among the 219 teenagers still being held.

Borno Senator, Ali Ndume told AFP that the militants attacked at about 4pm on Thursday, destroying communications masts and forcing residents to flee. 

APC Seeks Probe Of FG-Boko Haram Ceasefire Deal

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has called for an independent inquiry to unravel the circumstances surrounding the apparently fake ceasefire deal announced by the Jonathan administration on Oct. 17th, now that the sect's leadership has described as an impostor the man with whom the phantom deal was negotiated.

The opposition party's concern came as the number of Mubi residents fleeing from  the conflict to a camp at Damare in Yola, Adamawa state is said to have risen to 9000.

In a statement issued on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said Nigerians will like to know how the Jonathan administration got swindled by an impostor to accept a phantom peace deal.

SOURCE - Thisday

Ezekwesili Gives FG 24-Hours Deadline for concrete Results on Rescue of Chibok Girls

It's been over six months since the kidnap of the 218 Chibok girls, it's been a tiredless wait for the govt to produce concrete results .

  The co-Convener, Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group and former Minister of Education, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, on Tuesday called out the Federal Government.

In continuation of the daily tweets she reels out on twitter through her handle @obyezeks, she said the federal government should not allow another 24 hours to pass without tangible results in terms of rescuing the girls.

Pouring out her frustrations that despite the purported ceasefire between the Boko Haram sect and the government in which part of the deal was the release of the girls, she called on the government to live up to its promise.

Her tweet reads, "Our ears are all out today for the good news promised. Another 24 hours should not pass without "Tangibility" to FG rescue of our Girls."

Chibok Girls May Soon Regain Freedom - Boko Haram Spokeperson

The purported Secretary General of terrorist Boko Haram sect, Danladi Ahmadu, who represented the group and negotiated the recent ceasefire agreement with the Nigerian government, has affirmed that the abducted Chibok schoolgirls would be released soon to Chadian President, Idriss Derby, for onward presentation to the Nigerian government.

Ahmadu, who spoke on the Hausa Service of the Voice of America on Friday, also stated that the ceasefire agreement with the federal government was still valid.

In a swift reaction to the promise of freedom for the Chibok schoolgirls, the Principal Private Secretary to the President, Ambassador Hassan Tukur, who has been leading the federal government team for negotiation, simply said: "We will keep our fingers crossed".

About 219 schoolgirls are still missing after the terrorists invaded Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State in April and abducted over 270 girls.

Many had been worried when some members of the sect attacked villages in Borno and Adamawa states, less than 24 hours after the said ceasefire was announced.

But Ahmadu disclosed that the final meeting between the group and the federal government to finally seal the ceasefire agreement had been scheduled for next Monday in Ndjamena, Chad, and to be supervised by the Chadian leader.

He added that an enlarged meeting of the group had been fixed for the weekend to prepare ground for the Monday meeting with the federal government and affirmed that the final ceasefire and the release of the Chibok schoolgirls were promises that would be fulfilled by the group.
Ahmadu also disclosed to VOA that the group and the federal government were in close consultations over arrangements for the Monday meeting in Chad.

Commenting on the latest kidnap of over 40 women and girls in the border villages between Adamawa and Borno states, the Secretary General maintained that as far as Boko Haram was concerned, it is not aware of the latest kidnap and attacks.

He added that the group was investigating the latest kidnap and attacks to determine the involvement of its members, admitting that many anti-social groups have infiltrated Boko Haram.

Danladi Ahmadu stated that political thugs, armed robbers, kidnappers, hired assassins and other anti-social groups now parade themselves as members of the sect, but was quick to add that if the ceasefire agreement is sealed, all the groups would fizzle out.

No fewer than 50 women and girls were abducted by suspected Boko Haram members from Gartu in Michika, Adamawa State and Waga Mongoro, a border village between Madagali in Adamawa State and Gwoza in Borno State after a ceasefire agreement with the insurgents was announced by Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh.

The terrorist sect allegedly signed the ceasefire agreement with the federal government in Saudi Arabia on October 17.

The ceasefire agreement was announced by Badeh at the end of a two-day Coordinating Conference on Cameroon-Nigeria Trans-Border Military Operations at the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), Headquarters in Abuja.

A presidency source said consistent losses suffered by the terrorist group and the renewed determination of the military to wipe them out forced the sect to sign the ceasefire deal.
The Boko Haram terrorists have been causing havoc in the North-east through a wave of bombings, assassinations and abductions while fighting to “overthrow the government and create an Islamic state.”

Badeh said that the ceasefire agreement with the terrorists would not affect the accord reached with Cameroon for joint security border operations.

He further directed all the service chiefs to comply with the new ceasefire agreement.

Source - Thisday

I Thought Asari Dokubo Said Chibok Girls Missing was a scam. What Changed his Mind

Months back Asari posted pictures of girls holding several controversial placards saying no Chibok girl was missing insinuating that the abduction was a scam. Yesterday he posted this photo above on his Facebook page . Is he now suddenly convinced that the Chibok girls are missing? What could have possibly changed his perception?

Photos: President Jonathan meets Chibok parents/girls

President Jonathan yesterday July 22nd met with parents of abducted Chibok girls and rescued girls at the State House in Abuja. Present at the closed door meeting was the Senate President David Mark, Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Principal of the school, Mrs Asaba Kwambura as well as some Heads of Nigeria's Security Agencies.

The media was sent out of the room once the meeting kicked off. See more photos below ..nice move

'We know where the Chibok girls are but we are just being careful' - DG SSS

While fielding questions from newsmen after today's National Security Council meeting held at the Presidential Villa, the Director General of the Department of State Security, DSS, Mr Ita Ekpeyong said that security forces know where precisely the kidnapped Chibok girls are but are being very careful in their rescue efforts so as not to endanger their lives.

"The issue of the Chibok girls, government is making efforts. We know where they are but we don't want to endanger their lives, that is the truth. We want to take it gradually and release them at the appropriate time. We know where they are" he said

Mr Ekpeyong also stated that the Federal Government has directed all the state government planning to register non-indigines in their state by issuing them means of Identification, to stop forthwith and warned military officers not to work with states that may want to go ahead with the process. (Picture above shows National Security Council Meeting at the Presidential Villa, in Abuja yesterday)

GEJ promises to meet Chibok girls' parents after meeting with Malala

President Jonathan yesterday promised girl-child education campaigner Malala Yousafzai that he will meet the parents of the missing Chibok girls. He's promised to do all he can to rescue the girls but he never attempted to go to Chibok and never requested to meet with the missing girls' parents...until Malala convinced him to do so. Speaking after the closed door meeting at the state house, Malala said

"I met with the parents of these girls who are still under the abduction of Boko Haram and they were crying and hopeless. But still, they have this hope that there is still someone who can help them. They asked me if there is any chance for them to meet the President because at this time, they need the President’s support, so I asked the President if it is possible for him to go and see them to encourage them and the President did promise me that he will meet the parents of these girls.

“I spoke to the President about the girls who complained that they could not go to school despite the fact that they want to become doctors, engineers and teachers. But the government is not providing them any facility. They also need health facility, security and the government is not doing anything.

Photos - Faces & names of some of the kidnapped Chibok girls

Here are the faces and names of some of the school girls kidnapped on April 14th in the Chibok community in Borno state by Boko Haram men. Photos released by ThisDay Newspaper.

UN Special Envoy for Global Education, and former UK Prime Minister, who was in Nigeria this week shares his experience. Find the article he wrote about the Chibok girls below..

"I was shown these pictures after visiting Nigeria this week. I met the leader of the community council in Chibok, the town from which the girls were abducted.

Slowly and with tears in his eyes, he flicked through a file in which he had recorded the names and photographs of the girls. Continue...

Not even the police and Army have managed to compile such detail he has amassed from talking to the parents of the kidnapped teenagers.

The file has 185 pages — one for every girl. Each page has a photograph, and beside each passport-sized picture some stark facts — the girl’s name, her school grade and the date of abduction. For the other 19 abducted girls, he has yet to locate photographs. He will.

The community leader and the girls’ families have given permission for their names and photographs to be put into the public domain so the world is reminded of the missing girls. He is being helped to publicize this by Arise TV chief Nduka Obaigbena.

There is also a file on the 53 girls who escaped by running for their lives from their Boko Haram kidnappers.

I have spoken to three who fled. All want to be doctors and work as medical helpers in their communities. But for now, their lives are on hold.

They are unable to finish their exams, unable to find a safe place to study near home and are still in fear of another attack from Boko Haram. They have lost a year of their schooling and they are traumatised by the kidnapping of their friends.

For a teenage girl, eight weeks in captivity could have life-time consequences — and for their families it is torture. The idea that your daughter should go to school one day and never return is every parent’s nightmare. Not to know whether they have been molested, trafficked or are even alive is a living hell.

These girls were abducted for the sole reason that their captors believe that girls have no right to an education.

Yet this civil rights struggle is being fought out, brutally and — for most of the time — shamefully unobserved.

On one side, terrorists, murderers, rapists and cowards, hell-bent on acts of depravity. On the other, defiant, relentless, brave-beyond-comprehension young girl-heroes and boy-heroes desperately fighting for a future but, sadly, in a world largely oblivious to their plight.

In Britain and in the United States, we do find out. We do learn about abuse and horror from across the globe and we do react. But it’s often too late, and then, inevitably, it’s always too little. We should not fail young people, but it seems like we always do.

But we can’t forget. We owe them. We can’t give up because they won’t have given up.