Nigeria Abduction: At Least 230 Girls Still Missing

Parents of the missing girls who disappeared after the Nigeria abduction are pleading with the public and the government for their help in finding their children. According to USA Today, Headmistress Asabe Kwambula of the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok begged the extremist group, the Boko Haram, to “have mercy on the students.”

According to an earlier report by The Inquisitr, the Islamic extremist group, the Boko Haram, is being accused of breaking into a school and kidnapping well over two hundred students in the dead of night. According to ABC News, education officials originally reported that 129 students had been abducted, “which was the number of students writing an exam.”

“The girls had been recalled to write a physics exam as the school, and all schools in Borno state, were closed four weeks ago by the government because of the increased attacks.”

After word of the attack began to spread, family members of the students began flocking to the school, which reports state had been set on fire, only to find that many more girls were missing than the original 129. According to The Inquisitr, parents of the missing girls claimed on Monday that officials wouldn’t believe them when they showed them a list of at least 234 girls still missing, all aged between 16 and 18 years old.

According to BBC News, Kwambula has stated that 48 of the girls had managed to escape from the Boko Haram soldiers. “None of these girls were rescued by the military, they managed to escape on their own from their abductors,” she said. The Borno state governor reportedly added to that number, saying that a total of 52 girls have managed to escape captivity.

The news of this massive abduction reportedly shows that Boko Haram’s strength “appears to be increasing. The government’s ability to provide security to its citizens appears to be decreasing,” says John Campbell, who served as the US ambassador to Nigeria from 2004 to 2007.

Female students are a target, according to USA Today, because the Boko Haram opposes the education of girls. The group reportedly kidnaps female students and, if they don’t kill them, they use them as cooks or sex slaves.

The Inquisitr stated earlier that many in Nigeria are beginning to lose faith in their government because they feel like they can’t keep them protected from the extremist group.

“The failure of the government to even get a clear count (of the missing girls) further reinforces a perception of systemic governmental failure that plays into the narrative not only of Boko Haram, but also other dissident groups opposing Nigeria’s constitutional order,” says J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center.

[Image via Bing]