On February 19, over a hundred schoolgirls were abducted from a school in the town of Dapchi, Nigeria. President Muhammadu Buhari now wants to negotiate for their safe return rather than take military action.
“We are trying to be careful. It is better to get our daughters back alive,” Buhari said in a statement. The 75-year-old added that the country is working with international organizations and negotiators according to CNN.
The girls were reportedly kidnapped by members of Boko Haram, a Jihadist militant organization, that stormed the Government Girls Science Technical College in the Yobe State. Although administrators helped students to escape the facility, 110 girls (ages 11 to 19) were still abducted. Boko Haram previously kidnapped nearly 300 girls in 2014 from Chibok. The town isn’t far from the school in Dapchi and although 103 girls were freed, 100 are still deemed missing. Boko Haram continues to target schools as they believe western civilization should be forbidden as well as western education.
In a Mar. 2 tweet, Buhari condemned the actions of the group and insisted the “cowardly attacks” have only “renewed the determination of our government to bring the insurgency to a decisive end.”
Boko Haram’s recent cowardly attacks have only renewed the determination of our government to bring the insurgency to a decisive end, in the shortest possible time. I sympathize with the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies working in Rann, Borno State.
— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) March 2, 2018