Nigerian police hold ‘Chibok girls’ activists, says group

Members of the #BringBackOurGirls advocacy group were taken into custody as they held their daily demonstration in the capital, Abuja, said group coordinator Aisha Yesufu.

#BringBackOurGirls has been calling on the government to rescue or secure the release of scores of girls abducted from the remote northeastern town of Chibok in April 2014.

It also wants the return of thousands of other women, men and children who have been seized during the conflict, which began in 2009 and has killed at least 20,000 people.

“The Nigeria police force decided to arrest us, arrest innocent citizens that came out to demand the rescue of girls who have been abducted for almost four years,” said Yesufu.

About 12 people were taken into custody around 10 am and were held at an Abuja police station for approximately four hours, said group leader Oby Ezekwesili.

“At the FCT (Federal Capital Territory) police command I asked why our members were being arrested, and no one could say a thing,” Ezekwesili said.

But Nigerian police said in a statement released Tuesday evening that they brought the members of the #BringBackOurGirls group to the station because they “reacted violently” during the demonstration.

“It is pertinent to state that they were only brought to the command to ensure there was no breakdown of law and order as some members of the group reacted violently and broke down security barriers set up by the police to restrict their protest to Unity Fountain,” said police spokesman Anjuguri Manzah.

The kidnapping of 276 students from Chibok sparked outrage around the world and brought global attention to the insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast.

The young captives became the defining symbol of Boko Haram’s campaign to establish a hardline Islamic state and cast a spotlight on then-president Goodluck Jonathan’s response.

Current President Muhammadu Buhari, a former general, swept to power in 2015 on the back of criticism of Jonathan’s handling of the violence.

He pledged to defeat the jihadists and has since repeatedly announced that Boko Haram is defeated, yet the jihadists still mount regular attacks on civilians and the military.

Fifty-seven Chibok girls escaped in the hours after they were kidnapped.

Since then, 107 have escaped, been rescued or released in deals struck between the government and Boko Haram. One hundred and twelve are still being held.