100 days after, Chibok girls still in Shekau’s captivity

The world continues to await the safe return of the over 200 pupils of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, 100 days after they were kidnapped by the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram.100 days after, Chibok girls still in Shekau’s captivity.On April 15, 2014, Nigerians and, indeed, the rest of the world, woke up in the morning to the heart-breaking news of the kidnap of over 200 pupils of the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, a predominantly Christian community in Borno State. Eye witness accounts said the kidnappers, who were not immediately suspected to be members of the murderous Islamic sect known as Boko Haram, had arrived in the premises of the school in trucks and pretended to be on a mission to protect the girls. Reports claimed that many of the pupils were writing the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination when the intruders came and most of them were taken away into the Sambisa forest – now notorious for providing shelter to Boko Haram and other unspecified insurgents. Although some of the pupils managed to escape and fled into the bush, the news of the kidnap of the unlucky girls – some of who are said to be aged between 16 and 18 years – clearly shook the nation. To the international community, it signalled the birth of a disturbing dimension in the activities of terrorists and their sponsors, especially in North Eastern Nigeria. Earlier in February, about 59 male pupils of the Federal Government College, Buni-Yadi, in neighbouring Yobe State were killed when gunmen believed to be members of Boko Haram attacked the institution. The school was completely burnt during the attack, bringing the total number of secondary schools destroyed by the insurgents to about 200 since the Islamic sect began to target schools in its deadly campaign against modern civilisation. About three days after the incident, the Nigerian military reportedly released a statement claiming that more than 100 of the kidnapped girls had been freed. But the Army retracted the statement as, almost immediately, the parents of the kidnapped girls said 234 pupils were missing. Additional statements credited to security agents said that about 53 pupils had escaped the kidnappers. But by May 2, 2014, it was unclear how many girls were actually taken away in the attack. While some reports put the actual figure at 276, others claimed the number was 329.