Source: www.persecution.org
Date: July 31, 2022
Nigeria (International Christian Concern) – After over 8 years in captivity, two more Chibok school girls have been rescued. Now with children, the girls were forced into marriage with the Boko Haram fighters who captured them.
Even after these girls have returned, nearly 100 girls are still missing.
Though kidnapping has been an issue in Nigeria for many decades, mass kidnappings—especially of children—can largely be traced back to the 2014 kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls from Chibok. These girls were mostly Christians and many are still missing to this day. Kidnapping has increased rapidly since the Chibok incident, with Christian schools often the target though Muslim and state-run schools are also regularly targeted.
Kidnappers have extorted tens of millions of dollars from families in recent years, and the problem only seems to be getting worse. The number of Nigerian kidnappings skyrocketed in 2021, due to several factors which include political cowardice, economic conditions, and a nation divided between Christians and Muslims.
In April, the Nigerian Senate passed a bill criminalizing the families of kidnapped persons and threatening them with a minimum of fifteen years in prison for paying a ransom to rescue a kidnapping victim. The bill also imposed the death penalty for kidnappers in cases where the victim dies, though observers noted that this is largely symbolic gesture given that kidnappers are rarely caught while parents of victims are invariably known to local authorities.
Opponents of the bill argue that the root of the issue is not ransom payments but rather a government that seems incapable of providing effective security for its people.
The Nigerian government has kept an inconsistent narrative on kidnappings and ransoms over the years. Though it officially condemns the practice, it is widely known that the government regularly pays ransoms. Governor Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna State has even boasted publicly that he is in contact with certain Fulani militants and paid them to stop certain attacks. Whatever the truth of that claim, however, attacks have only increased under El Rufai’s governorship.
In a February 2021 tweet, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari took issue with state and local governments’ practice of paying ransoms and called on them to stop making ransom payments and to “play their part by being proactive in improving security in & around schools.”
The New York Times reports that, unfortunately, many perceive local authorities to be corrupt, even getting paid off by kidnappers eager to continue their lucrative business.
Human rights watchdogs are also concerned that the bill is an easy, public way for the government to claim it is taking the issue seriously by making the families of kidnapping victims the scapegoat.
HOW TO PRAY: Pray for the return of the many girls who are still missing. Praise God that these two have been found. Pray for healing for all of the trauma that these girls have walked through.