HOPE FOR THE 96 CHIBOK GIRLS DIMS NINE YEARS LATER

Yesteray, April 14, marks nine years since the kidnapping of schoolgirls from Chibok, a previously unknown rural hamlet in Borno State that has since become a global name.

As the world commemorates the 9th anniversary of the kidnapping of the Chibok children, 96 of the 276 stolen girls remain unaccounted for.

According to the unfortunate event, on April 14, 2014, Boko Haram militants abducted 276 girls from the Government Girls Secondary School dormitories in Chibok.

They had surged in on motorcycles and bicycles and began firing on village people.

They instilled widespread fear by torching homes and destroying other important items before kidnapping the girls from the boarding school.

The armed marauders placed the girls onto trucks and drove them to their lair, which appeared to be in the vast Sambisa forest.

Fifty-seven girls escaped by jumping out of moving trucks.

The rest were taken to the notorious terrorists' dens, where they were compelled to marry.

The females, the majority of whom were Christians, were coerced into accepting Islam.

The Chibok abduction, which remains Boko Haram's most publicized act to this day, is what cemented the terrorist group's global reputation.

Although they were formerly well recognized in Nigeria for their terrorist attacks, they received little global recognition.

Abubakar Shekau, the Boko Haram leader at the time, admitted to the abduction of the girls, stating that it was in response to the Nigerian government's detention of Boko Haram militants.

The females, who were largely teens under the age of 18, were quickly assigned as wives to members of the Boko Haram sect, who believe that no girl is too young for marriage.

Boko Haram had been around for 12 years before the Chibok tragedy, having been created in 2002 by a Muslim cleric named Mohammed Yusuf.

Their first documented act of violence occurred in 2003, when they stormed several police stations, killing cops and taking guns.

In retrospect, the Chibok abductions could be justified in furthering the sect's fundamental purpose of opposing western education, as it was bound to prevent many school-age children from attending school.

The term Boko Haram translates to 'Western education is forbidden,' and the sect was basically fighting to turn Nigeria into an Islamic state and to stop anything, including education and the Christian religion, that they considered to have Western content or influence.

When Boko Haram grew in strength, the Nigerian military apprehended and murdered Mohammad Yusuf in 2009.

His death appears to have acted as a spark, propelling the gang towards increased violence, with several attempts, and some successes, at overturning specific levels of government.

Over a period, particularly between 2014 and 2015, the cult took various local government districts in the states where it operated, mainly Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa.

The kidnapping of the Chibok schoolgirls inspired the global rallying cry 'bring back our kids,' a quotation from a TV speech by former minister Obiageli Ezekwesili.

It became a popular hashtag on social media, sparking a push for the girls' return.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama backed the campaign, promising that the US government will assist in the search for the missing girls.

In 2015, newly inaugurated President Muhammadu Buhari vowed to rescue hostages held by Boko Haram, but his immediate success was limited to regaining regions already conquered by Boko Haram.

One of the females fled and was discovered in the forest with her baby in 2016.

She said the majority of the other kids were still alive, the first sign since the abductions over two years ago that the world had expect for the girls' return.

The Swiss government and the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, conducted negotiations between the Nigerian government and Boko Haram, which resulted in the release of 21 Chibok girls in October 2016 and another group of 82 in May 2017 in exchange for five Boko Haram suspects.

Yet, 96 of the girls are still missing today.

Two of the girls escaped from custody between September and now.

The Nigerian Army revealed in September 2022 that 98 of the 276 Chibok schoolgirls taken by Boko Haram remained in captivity.

Colonel Obinna Ezuikpe, the commander of the Intelligence Section of the Joint Military Taskforce in the North East, Operation Hadinkai, told reporters, "57 of the 276 kidnapped Chibok girls escaped in 2014, while 107 were liberated in 2018. Three girls were liberated in 2019, two in 2021, and nine in 2022, bringing the total number of rescued girls to 178, with 98 still held captive by Boko Haram."

But, as the globe marks the 9th anniversary of the abductions, there is little optimism that the remaining girls will return.

Malam Hamza Suleiman, an activist on the frontlines of terrorist activity who spoke to  reports on Thursday morning, explained why.

He stated that the majority of the girls were believed to have been relocated from Nigeria to areas around Lake Chad, far from where measures that secured the previous release of other Chibok children could be completed.

He further stated that the majority of the remaining girls had been so deeply involved with the terrorists, having up to three children, that they are unlikely to embrace 'freedom' if provided.

According to Hamza, observers now believe that some of the girls may have died, particularly during the frequent exchanges of fire between terrorist factions and government security personnel.

He expressed disappointment that attention to the remaining Chibok girls had waned over time, making it less likely that any more of the girls would be persuaded to return.

"Unlike the earlier years following the abductions, attention has radically shifted from the girls, such that until you called to ask for an update, I didn't even remember that it's nine years today," he told correspondents.

He added that, "attacks have continued since the Chibok girls' time; even depressingly so."