More than 1,200 days have passed since 276 schoolgirls were abducted in April 2014 by Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram.
Some have been reunited with their families, but 113 girls are still missing.
Boko Haram raided the school’s dormitories in Chibok, northeast of Nigeria, three years ago. Despite the vastly diminishing amount of media coverage in correlation to the increased amount of time since the girls were abducted, the Bring Back Our Girls advocacy group is still taking action to spread awareness. “Thursday, 27 July, will be 1,200 days since 276 schoolgirls of Government Secondary School, Chibok were abducted in their school on the night of 14 April 2014,” BBOG said in a statement. “57 escaped, 219 were missing for over 2 years, presently 106 are back and 113 remain missing.”
The group held a sit-out in Abuja last Thursday to mark what it called a “sad milestone” and called for continued efforts to release the rest of the girls.
One girl escaped in May 2016, while 21 girls and a baby were released in October 2016, following negotiations between the notorious terrorists, the International Red Cross, and the Swiss government. In January of this year, a girl was found with a baby by Nigerian troops and another was rescued in a forest near the Boko Haram homebase.
In May of this year, a few weeks after the third anniversary of the abduction, 82 girls were released, leaving 113 still under the control of Boko Haram.
Out of the initial group of girls who escaped Boko Haram in 2014, 42 graduated high school this past July.
Boko Haram is a militant Islamist group which was founded in 2002 and believes that it is “haram”, or forbidden, for Muslims to be a part of anything associated with Western society or culture.
On August 1, the group attacked a village in Adamawa state, Northeast Nigeria, firing on sleeping residents, killing seven people and injuring about 10. The latest attack came a week after Boko Haram ambushed an oil exploration team Tuesday, July 25 where more than 50 people were killed.