Nigerian president-elect Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said he could not make promises about the return of 219 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram, as the nation marked the first anniversary of their abduction.
The comments by Buhari, who is to take office on May 29, stand in contrast to outgoing Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who has repeatedly said the girls will be found, and the military, which said last year it knew where the teenagers were being held.
Events were taking place in Nigeria and around the world to mark the first anniversary of the abduction, which Amnesty International said was one of 38 since the beginning of last year that had seen at least 2,000 women taken by the militants.
Photo: EPA
The UN and African rights groups also called for an end to the targeting of boys and girls in the conflict, which has left at least 15,000 dead and about 1.5 million people homeless, 800,000 of them children.
Buhari said there was a need for “honesty” in his new government’s approach to the girls’ abduction, with nothing seen or heard from the students since May last year, when they appeared in a Boko Haram video.
“We do not know if the Chibok girls can be rescued. Their whereabouts remain unknown. As much as I wish to, I cannot promise that we can find them, but I say to every parent, family member and friend of the children that my government will do everything in its power to bring them home,” Buhari said in a statement.
The focus of the one-year commemoration was on Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, where a vigil demanding the girls’ immediate release has been held almost every day since they were kidnapped.
In New York, the #BringBackOurGirls campaign said the Empire State Building would be lit in its colors of red and purple, to symbolize an end to violence against women.
Prayers, candlelit vigils and marches have been held or are planned, but no event was planned in Chibok itself.
Chibok elder Enoch Mark, whose daughter and niece are among the captives, said the town was still in “perpetual fear” of Boko Haram, despite the presence of troops.
“The last one year has been a period of sadness, emotional torment and hardship. It has been one year of mourning. We are a bereaved community that has lost 219 daughters,” he said. “Our hope in finding our girls is now in Buhari. We hope we will soon see our girls if they are alive or at least their corpses if they are dead.”
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