219 ABDUCTED CHIBOK GIRLS MAY RETURN HOME NEXT WEEK

The girls are not released till now October 24, 2014. More females have been kidnapped after the cease fire agreement. Latest kidnap took place in Adamawa=Northern Nigeria.

The confirmed report reaching us in Nigeria after a ceasefire agreement between Nigeria government and Boko Haram group in Saudi Arabia on Friday October 17, 2014 is that the remaining 219 abducted Chibok girls will join their families next week. Presently, the girls are said to be in Niamey, Niger Republic, a border country with Nigeria, Unconfirmed sources revealed that they might be reunited with their families next Monday.

It will forever remain fresh in our minds that 276 girls were abducted in their school; Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state, Nigeria on the night of 14-15 April 2014. The militant Boko Haram group claimed responsibility for the abduction. Although, there had been so many rumors, that there are no missing girls, but women and men of goodwill all over the world continued to pressurize the government of Nigeria to secure the release of these innocent girls; because they were actually kidnapped.

Moreover, the list of the names of the abducted girls soon became a public knowledge, in the same vein, Boko Haram continued to release the videos of these girls in the Sambisa Forest, where they were camped. On two occasions, some of the girls also escaped while few weeks ago, it was acclaimed that one of the girls became insane and was released; she was about five months pregnant.

To make it clear here, there has been a lot of secrecy about the issues of these abducted girls because the government of Nigeria does not want to be transparent about the missing girls. Several Nongovernmental organizations took it upon themselves to campaign, protest and demonstrated in the capitals of several countries especially in the capital of Nigeria-Abuja, until the government of Nigeria banned protest about the girls in Nigeria.

It will be on record that it is on in Nigeria that the protest #Bringbackourgirls was banned. While people from all over the world continued to lead protest of our behalf. On the 14 of July, Malala Yousafzai visited the President of Nigeria to appeal to him to intensify efforts at releasing the Chibok girls. Recently, on the 14 of October; Alicia Keys, the American musician celebrated her sons’ birthday with a protest in front of the Nigeria Consulate in New York City. Furthermore, Nigerian activists continue to intensify efforts in their protests in various parts of Nigeria and the world. A Nigerian woman who stands out in the protest is Mrs Ezekwesili; a great daughter of the soil.

To refresh our memories; Boko Haram is a terrorist group in Nigeria that that began its operation in 2006. Its aim is to end Western education in Nigeria and to ‘Sharianize’ Nigeria, by entrenching Islam rule alone in Nigeria. There are more than 70million Christian in Nigeria and 10 million people who adhere to other religions, therefore it will be hard for any single religion lay claim on the citizenry. In 2010, Boko Haram began to bomb schools and kill several students aside bombing markets, mosques, churches etc.

In 2014, Nigeria recorded the highest number of bomb attacks by the dreaded Boko Haram and it is on record that some countries supported Nigeria in the bid to curtail the dastard acts of this group. Boko Haram has extended its bombing, maiming and killing into some other parts of Africa such as; Cameroon, Chad, Niger. These are border countries with Nigeria.

Although, so many Nigerians are skeptical about the return of the girls, because the Nigerian government has promised their release several times in the past but I believe that the girls will be released soon. It will be recalled that last week, Boko Haram released 27 Cameroonians after the President of Cameroon met and negotiated with the dreaded book haram leaders and it was widely reported that this was done in exchange for arms, ammunitions and money.

Our Chibok girls will return home and their return must not the end of our fight against terrorism, neither are we expected to rest on our oars in out fight for education for the every girl child and gender inequality, we shall continue to defend the rights of the girl child and work for peaceful coexistence of all religion. Until this is achieved, it shall continue to be #bringbackourpeace and #Equalitywewant.

No mother deserves to await her daughters after forceful abduction in any part of the world. Abduction of girls/women/children must stop and these perpetrators must be brought to book in order to serve as deterrent for other militants groups. Our bodies is not their battle field/ground.

I seize this opportunity to say thank you to all our brothers and sisters who have in no small measure continue to help us to sustain the momentum of the #bringbackourgirls campaign globally. We are not surprised, because we trust our sisterhood and brotherhood. Our global unity is non- negotiable and we will constantly remain one; in our fight against terrorism, inequality, poverty and violence against human.