Group Holds Rally In Lagos To Mark Second

Anniversary Of Chibok Abduction.

A Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) rally was held in Lagos on

Thursday, 14 April 2016, to mark the second anniversary of the
abduction of nearly 300 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State.
The protest march, organized by the Murtala Mohammed
Foundation under the umbrella of Women for Peace and Justice,
started off at Allen Junction and terminated at the Government
House, Alausa, Ikeja, where the Governors office is located. The
protesters displayed photographs of some of the kidnapped girls,
chanting, Buhari, Osinbajo, Saraki, etc, bring back our girls now
and alive! as they marched.

At the Government House, the protesters demanded to see and

be addressed by the Governor but were told that Governor
Ambode was away in Ikorodu to attend a Town Hall meeting.
Speaking, the leader of the group, Habiba Balogun, expressed
disappointment at the absence of the Governor but called on
government to expedite action to locate and rescue the
kidnapped girls. She advised the Federal Government and other
state governors to borrow a leaf from Lagos State Government in
the handling of the Ikorodu school abduction and the prompt
rescue of the girls.
Responding on behalf of the Governor, Alhaji Wasiu Yusuf, who
identified himself as a security assistant to the Governor,
expressed appreciation to the organisers of the rally and for the
peaceful conduct. He expressed the hope that the Chibok girls
would be found and brought back, and prayed that such an
incident would never again be witnessed. He received a written

message from the group and promised to deliver it to Governor

Ambode.

Among the protesters in the rally was Yahi Bwata, a family

member of one of the kidnapped Chibok girls whose name is
Comfort. Bwata explained that he assumed parental responsibility
over Comfort following the death of her fatherhis elder brother
six months after the abduction. He was almost in tears as he
narrated how he met former President Goodluck Jonathan and was
assured that the girls would be brought back. He lamented that
two years after, the girls are still missing. Some of the parents,
he said, have died from trauma.
Asked why he was in Lagos and not Chibok, he said, I stay in
Lagos and do something in Lagos. As a firsthand witness, he
dispelled rumours in some quarters that reports of the abduction
were a mere political propaganda to discredit the former
government.
On 14 April 2014, nearly 300 girls were abducted from
Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, by the
Islamic insurgent group, Boko Haram. All efforts to locate and
bring back the girls have so far proved futile.