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Nigeria Abducted Schoolgirls Protest: Rights Groups in Nigeria Mount New Pressure on Government / Africa News

Members of Abuja "Bring Back Our Girls" protest group sit during a protest march, organized by the group to the Presidential Villa, in Abuja

Human rights activists in Nigeria have renewed a protest to put pressure on the government to do more to free more than 200 school girls who were abducted by Boko Haram militants some six months ago.

The schoolgirls were abducted in the town of Chibok in Borno State in the northeastern part of the country in April this year after the militants raided the schools.

The Nigeria government has still failed to secure their release since then and local reporters say parents of the abducted girls have lost confidence in the government’s ability to rescue their children.

Dozens of people in red T-shirts branded “Bring Back Our Girls” marched to the Presidential Palace in the capital, Abuja to demand for the release of the girls on Tuesday.

Police at the Presidential Palace tried to stop the crowd from swelling but were unsuccessful. The President later sent his representative to come and take the protesters’ petition, pledging as usual that the girls will be freed soon.

Prayer vigils were held throughout the country by various rights activists on Tuesday night for the girls. People sang emotional songs and made supplication to God to protect the girls for their safe return.

Back in the town of Chibok where the girls were abducted, the BBC African Service reported that the agony is only getting worse for the parents of the girls.

“The government must do more to get the girls back. Some parents are already dying. About six women have gone insane because they can’t endure the trauma”.

“We are in a desperate situation. Sometimes, when we go to the farm and remember what has happened we just start crying and can’t work”.

“I think the government is more concerned about politics now. We don’t hear about our girls any more. We only hear about political campaigns going on. That is what they are concerned about”, some parents to the BBC in an extreme emotional state.

The Nigerian military has been helpless since the girls were abducted. The situation in the north-east has deteriorated badly as the militants have forced entire communities to flee their homes on several occasions.

Boko Haram has consolidated its recent campaign of annexing territory for an Islamic Caliphate State. The State of Borno is firmly under its control. All government troops’ station in the area has pulled out, leaving the area to the mercy of the militants according to local reports.

Over the weekend, Boko Haram released 27 hostages it abducted in northern Cameroon between May and July this year including 10 Chinese workers. Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya is believed to have personally involved in securing the hostages release but it unclear how he managed to do that.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said that Boko Haram has killed more than 3,000 civilians this year alone.

Political analysts say this is the worse year for Nigeria since Boko Haram began its armed insurgency in 2009.

Boko Haram is a Hausa language which translates to mean “Western education is forbidden” and it sees schools and colleges as a symbol of Western culture in Nigeria. It has vowed to eradicate such institutions and create an Islamic state in the north of the country.

Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa News

Writer’s Email Address: Adamsisska@googlemail.com

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