Holding their touch lights, which has lately become their symbol, members of the BringBackOurGirls group gently marched round posters bearing the names of the remaining missing girls.
It’s solely to their credit that the issue of the missing Chibok girls still remains very much in the front burner three years after Boko haram insurgents rudely snatched them away from their school in northeastern Nigeria.
Some of the girls were released last October following mediated negotiation between the government and their abductors. But since then, despite initial optimism that Boko Haram would release more of the girls, nothing has happened yet.
“We don’t want any more excuses. Mr President promised two years ago. Now what has changed since then? Be bringing them. If it is one today, four tomorrow, fifty the day after. But we cannot say 21 girls since last year,” said Ayo Obe, member, #BringBackOurGirls group.
“In this whole process some parents are dead. Some have gone mad. These are statistics that we know. We know these parents one on one. Some have lost it. Some fathers have died. Some mothers have died. This is really sad,” said Funmi Adesnya, member, #BringBackOurGirls group.
The Nigerian government says it is in talks with Boko haram to get the remaining missing girls released but it is not disclosing details of the talks or giving any time line.
“The Nigerian military has been making effort. The current administration has been making tremendous efforts and commitment towards the rescue of the girls. We want to encourage them to do more. We believe that more can be done. We believe that our military will be able to rescue these girls and we are prayerful that within the shortest period, these girls will be rescued,” Hadiza Bala Usman, co-convener, #BringBackOurGirls group.
“We are all praying that every day we wake up we would like to hear announcement that all the 195 girls are free. If not all 195, 100. If not hundred, fifty. If not fifty, at least one. If for everyday there is one girl released, in 195 days, we will all singing halelluya,” said Wale Edun, former official, Lagos state.
Apart from their meeting point in Abuja,another part of Lagos has been the rallying point of the BringBackOurGirls group in the past three years in their campaign to continue to draw attention to the missing girls and mount pressure on government to either rescue them or secure their release. They say their campaign would go until the last missing Chibok girl regains her freedom.
