Chibok People - All that Matters To Us Is The Safe Return Of Our Daughters

Bring Back Our Girls

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The parents of the over 234 school girls that were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, by Boko Haram, have come out to say they are not concerned with strategy used in rescuing their daughters from the Islamist, saying all that matters to them was the safe return of the girls.

The out cry came on Tuesday, after some of the parents identified their daughters in a recently released video by the Islamist sect.
Parents and friends of the remaining abducted girls clearly stated that they were not interested in the means by which the girls are rescued from their abductors as long as they are brought back home alive.
According to the parents and the other six girls who miraculously escaped, some of the girls in the video reciting a verse of the Qu’ran were identified as Rose Daniel, Sarah Samuel, Ajara Isah, Aisha Zannah, Saraya Amos Ali, Hauwal Abdul, Ruth Bitrus, Awwal Ali, Saratu Thlauja, Rifkatu Gala, Mariam Ali, Susannah Yakubu as well as Jummai.
They insisted that most of the girls in the video were Christians, adding that they might have been forcefully converted to Islam.
"I know four of the girls. The girls I know are all Christians. It is sad that they have been forced to become Muslims" one of escaped girls said.
Lawan Zannah, a father of one of the victims, who gave his daughter's as Aisha Zannah, said: "my daughter is a Muslim, adding, "I do not know how someone could kidnap girls and compel them to change their faith. In Islam, there is no compulsion in faith, I do not believe this abductors are Muslims for they do not act as one".
"I saw my daughter and her friend and they are emaciated, meaning they have not been handling them well" he added.
Zannah, who was elated that his daughter was still alive, said: "I am happy that she is still alive but I want her back. We are just happy to see our children but we want them back. The government should be able to do everything to bring them back".
Meanwhile, a 16-year-old education activist, Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by Taliban militants in Pakistan for advocating girls' right to education yesterday said, she was shocked and saddened when she heard that over 200 Nigerian schoolgirls had been kidnapped from their school by Boko Haram members.
Yousafzai, who runs a charity, 'Malala Fund' which is set up to support the fight for girls’ right to education, said she will donate all the proceeds from the sale of a Jonathan Yeo portrait of Yousafzai to help the search for the chibok girls.
"I am very concerned about these innocent girls – my sisters – whose only crime was going to school and learning" she said. 

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