Buhari plans visit to Yobe, where schoolgirls were kidnapped

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will visit Yobe, the northeastern state where 110 schoolgirls were abducted by suspected members of Islamist militant group Boko Haram last month, the presidency said on its official Twitter feed on Monday.

The tweet did not say whether he would visit the town of Dapchi, where the girls were taken on February 19.

Church leaders as well as family members of the young girls who were abducted have demanded Nigeria’s federal government become more proactive in guaranteeing security of the citizens.

“These are people’s children, these are people’s future, the pride of their lives, their investment for the future, the only hope for Nigerians’ parents are these children, said National Publicity Secretary of the Pentacostal Felllowship of Nigeria, Dr. Emmah Gospel Isong.

“This is an abduction too many; we beg the Federal Government of Nigeria to ensure that these girls are released in the shortest possible time.”

Since the kidnappings, there have been many conflicting lines from the authorities on what exactly happened in Dapchi. It took three days for the government to finally acknowledge some girls had been taken. It was another three days before they gave a number of how many were missing.

Now, President Buhari says the army and air force are in pursuit of the girls and are doing everything it can to find them. But many of the parents don’t feel they are doing enough.

“I don’t know why the government has not reacted faster,” said one father. “But these are not the children of senior politicians, they are the children of poor men.”

Over the past week, the echoes of the Chibok kidnapping have never been far from people’s minds – least of all the parents of Dapchi. Four years later, more than 100 of those girls are still missing.