Boko Haram & The Chibok Schoolgirls Kidnapping

On the evening of April 14th, 2014, the village of Chibok, in northeast Nigeria, was invaded by a large group of men. They rushed in on motorcycles and bicycles and began to open fire on the village residents. They burned down the houses in the village and kidnapped 276 girls from a boarding school dormitory. The men loaded the girls into trucks bound for the northeast region of the country. Fifty-seven girls managed to escape. The rest would be forced into marriage and, if Christian, forced to convert to Islam.

The attack brought worldwide attention to Boko Haram, a terrorist group that controls northeast Nigeria. Up until the kidnapping, they had been well known in Nigeria for their terrorist acts, but less known internationally. According to a CNN news report, Boko Haram’s leader at the time, Abubakar Shekau, admitted to the kidnappings. He claimed that it was in response to the Nigerian government imprisoning Boko Haram members and their families. The news report quoted him as stating that Allah told him to sell the girls in the market as brides. According to a report written from interviews with Boko Haram survivors, the group believes that no girl is too young for marriage.  

This was not the first time Boko Haram kidnapped children. In fact, thousands of Nigerians have died or been taken away from their homes at the hands of the group. Boko Haram was founded in 2002 by Mohammed Yusuf, a leader of a Muslim sect. Their first known attack was in 2003, when they attacked multiple police stations, killing police officers and stealing weapons. The name Boko Haram is a mix of Arabic and the Nigerian Hausa dialect. It translates to “western education is forbidden.” Boko Haram is fighting to turn Nigeria into an Islamic state and purge the country of anything they consider to be of Western influence, such as schools and churches. They claim to have ties with ISIS (The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), a terrorist group with the same goal in Iraq and Syria. On the heels of a Boko Haram uprising, in 2009, Yusuf was captured and killed by the Nigerian military. Since his death, the group has grown more violent and have made attempts to try and overthrow the government. As Boko Haram grew, it started controlling more and more land in Northeast Nigeria. At its peak, the land they controlled was almost as large as the state of Maryland.  

The Nigerian government initially denied that the 2014 kidnapping happened. They stated that it was staged in an attempt to embarrass the government. Parents of the missing girls claimed that the government said this because the Chibok village had voted against the President in the election. These parents set out to look for their children themselves when the government wouldn’t. They went into forests controlled by Boko Haram that the military refused to go into. They also held marches and protests, and told the world about how distraught they were about the ordeal.

International uproar and support was generated around the rallying cry “bring back our girls” — a quote taken from a speech that a former government minister, Obiageli Ezekwesili, made on TV. It turned into a powerful term, traveling around the world as a hashtag on social media. It became a movement to bring attention to the kidnapping, and demand the return of the girls. People all over the world supported the campaign. Former First Lady, Michelle Obama, recorded a video clip informing people about the kidnapping and promising that the U.S. government would help to find the missing girls. Former Prime Minister of Britain, David Cameron, activist Malala Yousafzai, and many others around the world also showed their support.  

In 2015, the new Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, promised to rescue the hostages from Boko Haram. Buhari reclaimed a lot of land that Boko Haram had captured in the previous years. In 2016, one of the girls escaped and was found in the forest with her baby. She said that most of the other girls were still alive. The Swiss government and the International Committee of the Red Cross helped with negotiations between the Nigerian government and Boko Haram. In October 2016, 21 of the girls from Chibok were released and in May 2017, another 82 were released in exchange for 5 Boko Haram suspects.

However, 113 girls from Chibok remain missing, as well as hundreds of other children that Boko Haram have been suspected of kidnapping. But those that have been released or escaped remain a symbol of hope. The government is assisting the kidnapped victims with medical treatment, and many of them are returning home to their families.