Advertisement

Nigerians launch #BringBackOurGirls Twitter campaign to highlight abductions

In an effort both to publicize the abductions of 230 girls from their school in Nigeria and to pressure the Nigerian government to dedicate more resources to their rescue, an on-line Twitter campaign has begun with the hash-tags #BringBackOurGirls and #BringBackOurDaughters.

By JC Finley

ABUJA, Nigeria, May 2 (UPI) -- Promoting the hashtags #BringBackOurGirls and #BringBackOurDaughters, Nigerians hope to publicize the abductions and pressure the Nigerian government to do more to locate the missing schoolgirls.

The Islamist militant group Boko Haram is suspected of launching the attack on the all girls boarding school in the town of Chibok late in the evening on April 15. After exchanging gunfire with school guards, the militants took an estimated 230 schoolgirls with them into vehicles and then, said one girl who escaped, "They left with us in a convoy into the bush ... A group of motorcyclists flanked the convoy to ensure none of us escaped."

Advertisement

Frustration following the mass abduction on April 15 was compounded by conflicting reports regarding both the number of missing and false reporting by the military that the majority of abducted school girls had been released. Parents have also criticized the government for failing to dedicate sufficient resources to find their missing daughters.

Nigerian director Louis King created a short YouTube video using images of some of the girls abducted from their school to tell the story of what they were studying when their lives were interrupted on April 15.

Advertisement

Latest Headlines