by Tosin Adesina

The eventual release of the abducted students of Igbonla Model College, Epe on Friday, has reawakened the call for the release of the remaining 113 girls that were Abducted by the Boko Haram terrorist group on the night of April 14, 2014, from Government Secondary School, Chibok in Chibok town, Borno, state Nigeria.

It’s been three long years that the girls were abducted. While 106 have been released by the sect after intense negotiation with the Nigerian government with varying conditions including the release of Boko Haram commanders kept in Nigerian prisons the remaining 113 are still held hostage.

To show that Boko Haram is not only interested in kidnapping the girls, they’ve also abducted a lot of women, including female police women recently abducted in an ambush in Borno state. However, while the 113 girls are wasting away in Boko Haram enclaves, their mates are in schools doing something meaningful with their life. We are not even sure if all the girls are alive as some might have died from sickness and depression. There were also reports of some were injured in air strikes which might have reduced their numbers.

The continuous hostage of the girls is a slap in the face of the APC-led Federal Government of Nigeria as the party used the Chibok kidnap as the centre of its campaign and even said the Boko Haram war won’t be considered a success until the girls are reunited with their parents. Less than a year into the administration the federal government failed their promise by declaring Boko Haram technically defeated while the girls are still missing.

The group advocating for the release of the Chibok girls, the Bring Back Our Girls Group have promised to match to the Aso Villa on the 1st of August 2017 as a call to action concerning the remaining 113 girls.

The after effect of the abduction has taken a toll on the parents of the girls as some have died while some are experiencing daily psychological trauma based on their daughters’ absence. It will be good if the federal government can speed up the negotiation process of the remaining 113 abducted Chibok girls to reunite them with their parents.

#BringBackOurGirlsNow