Girls’ education campaigner, who was shot by the Taliban, Malala Yousafzai, is in Nigeria to campaign for the release of the schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram.
On arrival at the Nations Capital Abuja, Nigeria early sunday morning, she stated, “We must not be silent”.
Seventeen-year-old Yousafzai, who arrived Abuja early Sunday morning is expected to meet with families of the abducted school girls 90 days after their kidnap and she’s to meet with Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan to pressure government to ensure the safe release of the school girls.
In the face of dwindling global interest in the rescue of the girls, Yousafzai emphasised the importance of continued public condemnation of the abduction, saying this is the way to prevent recurrences.
“I think that we should not remain silent. And this is my feeling — that if we remain silent about it, this will spread; it will happen more and more. If we want to stop it, then we have to speak,” she said.
“And I am already very sad when i think that so many days have passed and these girls are in that hard situation. So I think we should take a step and we should think [about] how to solve this issue.”
Her visit to Nigeria takes place almost three months after the abduction of the girls, who were abducted by Boko Haram militants from a boarding school in Chibok, in north-east Borno State, on April 14.
Her presence will no doubt add to the pressure on the Nigerian government, which was accused in the early days of the kidnapping of not doing enough to resolve it.
On the night of 14–15 April 2014, 276, female students were kidnapped from the Government Secondary School in the town of Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria. The kidnappings were claimed by Boko Haram, an Islamic Jihadist and terrorist organization based in northeast Nigeria.
As of 13 July, more than 200 students were still missing. Boko Haram has said that it wants to sell the girls but asked for the release of detained terrorists in exchange for the girls..
The Nigerian government has been heavily criticised for failing to protect the population and end Boko Haram terrorist actions.
Photo Credit: Saleh Shehu Ashaka
