The number of kidnapped schoolgirls missing in Nigeria
has risen to 276, up by more than 30 from a previous
estimate, police said, adding that the actual number
abducted by Islamic extremists on April 14 was more
than 300.
Police Commissioner Tanko Lawan said the number of
girls and young women who have escaped also has
risen, to 53.
He told a news conference Thursday night in
Maiduguri, the northeastern capital of Borno state, that
the figures keep increasing because students from
other schools were brought into one school for final
exams last month after all schools in Borno state were
shut because of attacks by Islamic extremists.
Communications are difficult with the military often
cutting cell phone service under a state of emergency
and travel made dangerous on roads frequently
attacked by the militants.
“The students were drawn from schools in Izge, Lassa,
Ashigashiya and Warabe A. and that is why, after the
unfortunate incident, there were various numbers flying
around as to the actual number of girls that were taken
away,” Lawan said.
Hundreds of women protested in at least three cities
this week to express their outrage that the girls have
not been found.
Two bombings in three weeks have also hit the nation’s
capital, Abuja.
Reports this week indicated some have been forced
into “marriage” with their extremist abductors, who
paid a nominal bride price equivalent to $12. Other
reports that also could not be verified said some have
been taken across borders, to Chad, Cameroon and to
an island in Lake Chad. The reports come from parents
and legislators who are in touch with villagers who
have seen the girls with their abductors.
As the students, aged between 15 and 18, endure a
third week of captivity President Goodluck Jonathan
referred to them publicly for the first time at a May Day
rally on Thursday. Jonathan, a southern Christian who
has been accused of insensitivity to the plight of mainly
Muslim residents of the northeast, vowed “we must find
our missing girls” and “the perpetrators must be
brought to book.”
He said “the cruel abduction of some innocent girls, our
future mothers and leaders, in a very horrific and
despicable situation in Borno state is quite
regrettable.”
“We shall triumph over all this evil that wants to
debase our humanity,” he added.
Girls who have escaped say their captors identified
themselves as fighters in the Boko Haram terrorist
network, though the extremists have not claimed
responsibility for the abductions. Boko Haram — the
name means “Western education is sinful” — believes
Western influences have corrupted their society and
only an Islamic state can restore purity to Africa’s
most populous nation of about 170 million people,
divided almost equally between Muslims and
Christians.