Former World Bank vice president Obiageli Ezekwesili led the BringBackOurGirls woman march in Abuja today. She led the Nigerian protesters as they marched onto the National Assembly complex Wednesday to demand that the government and military should do more to rescue scores of school girls kidnapped by Boko Haram gunmen at Government Girls Secondary School, in Chibok,Borno State, more than two weeks ago. Obie addressed the protesters at Unity Fountain in Abuja as the march kicked off.
Obiageli Ezekwesili is a chartered accountant and a co-founder of Transparency International, serving as one of the pioneer Directors of the global anti-corruption body based in Berlin, Germany. She served as Nigerian Federal Minister of Solid Minerals and then as Federal Minister of Education during the second term presidency ofOlusegun Obasanjo.
Dubbed “a million woman march” and promoted on Twitter under #BringBackOurGirls, the protest was not expected to draw a massive crowd and turn-out was hindered by heavy rain in the capital Abuja.
But several hundred women and men, mostly dressed in red, marched through the rain towards the National Assembly carrying placards that read “Find Our Daughters.”
Protest organiser Hadiza Bala Usman had earlier said that the size of the protest was less important than raising awareness about the plight of the hostages whose April 14 abduction at gunpoint from their school in the northeast has outraged Africa’s most populous nation.
“The government has to understand that we are not going to allow this silence to continue,” Usman said.
In the northern city of Kano, roughly 100 people dressed in black marched towards the state governor’s office, calling for the girls’ immediate release.
The mass kidnapping in the Chibok area of northeastern Borno state was one of the most shocking attacks in Boko Haram’s five-year extremist uprising, which has killed thousands across the north and centre of the country.
The leader of Chibok’s elders forum, Pogu Bitrus, told AFP that he had received information indicating the girls were trafficked into neighbouring Cameroon and Chad and sold as brides to insurgents for 2,000 naira ($12).
Parents have voiced fury at the military’s efforts, accusing the security services of ignoring their daughters’ plight.
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