NIGERIA: Protesters in Abuja whose protest venue has been shut down by the government due to tight security surrounding the World Economic Forum vow to carry on with their action until the kidnapped schoolgirls have been released

Record ID: 236681

  • Title: NIGERIA: Protesters in Abuja whose protest venue has been shut down by the government due to tight security surrounding the World Economic Forum vow to carry on with their action until the kidnapped schoolgirls have been released
  • Date: 8th May 2014
  • Summary: ABUJA, NIGERIA (MAY 08, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS GATHERED BY ROADSIDE WITH CARS PARKED ALONG THE ROAD VARIOUS OF LOCKED GATE OF PLANNED VENUE OF PROTEST VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS SEATED ON MATS AND CHAIRS MEGA PHONES PLACED ON THE GROUND (SOUNDBITE) (English) CO-ORDINATOR FOR "BRING BACK OUR GIRLS CAMPAIGN", HADIZA BALA USMAN, SAYING: "We.... it's not going to deter us in any way. In fact it's going to make us more committed towards our cause. For us for so long as we do not see any concise decisive action on the rescue operations of the girls, we are gonna sustain our protests, we are gonna sustain our sit-ins, wherever is locked up we will find another place to do it. We are now sitting by the roadside and we intend to have our meeting, our discussion and our deliberations by the roadside." VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS SEATED WITH BANNERS READING: "BRING BACK OUR GIRLS AND RESCUE OUR CHIBOK GIRLS" VARIOUS OF DINO MELAYE AND OTHERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) CO-ORDINATOR FOR ANTI-CORRUPTION NETWORK, DINO MELAYE, SAYING: "And I'm surprised that this place is locked down by security agencies, but they can only stop us from going in they cannot stop the vision, they cannot stop the mission, that is why we are all gathered outside and it's even better we do it outside." VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS SEATED LISTENING TO ADDRESS BY PROTEST LEADER (SOUNDBITE) (English) CO-ORDINATOR, ANTI-CORRUPTION NETWORK, DINO MELAYE, SAYING: "We will be here, if they want to confront us we will be here, the battle to salvage our country from Boko Haram and corruption is a battle of no retreat, no surrender, no amount of intimidation, harassment arrest or re-arrest will detract our attention from championing this democratic cause." PROTESTERS SEATED SAYING BRING BACK OUR GIRLS PROTEST LEADER ADDRESSING CROWD WITH MEGA PHONE SIGN POST AND EXTERIOR OF LOCKED AMUSEMENT PARK
  • Embargoed: 23rd May 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Reuters ID: LVADPZS7KE5YFJ4O4VL5RN2BNB8B
  • Story Text: Protesters in Abuja, campaigning for the release of the more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram Islamists, were locked out of their protest venue on Thursday (May 8) when the capital began hosting the World Economic Forum on Africa.
    The capital is in a virtual lockdown as it hosts a major conference designed to showcase investment opportunities in Africa's biggest economy.
    But the hostage crisis has overshadowed the meeting and on Thursday Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan opened the forum with a pledge to find the girls.
    Jonathan thanked foreign nations including the United States, Britain, France and China for their support in trying to rescue the girls, who were kidnapped from a secondary school on April 14 by Boko Haram.
    He thanked delegates for coming despite the danger posed by the militants, then quickly moved on to a speech about creating jobs in African economies.
    Despite such pledges, Jonathan admitted on national television this week that he had no idea where the girls were.
    Protesters say they were surprised to find their second choice of venue for the peaceful protest, locked without explanations.

    "We.... it's not going to deter us in any way. In fact it's going to make us more committed towards our cause. For us for so long as we do not see any concise decisive action on the rescue operations of the girls, we are gonna sustain our protests, we are gonna sustain our sit-ins, wherever is locked up we will find another place to do it. We are now sitting by the roadside and we intend to have our meeting our discussion and our deliberations by the roadside," said Hadiza Bala Usman, coordinator for "Bring Back Our Girls" campaign.
    Dino Melaye, a former member of the Nigerian House of Representatives and also the co-ordinator for Anti-Corruption Group, vows to continue with the protests until the girls are found.
    Demonstrations have continued in Nigeria's capital despite the security lockdown.
    France became the latest nation to offer help on Wednesday, saying it was boosting intelligence ties with Nigeria and sending security service agents there to tackle Boko Haram, the militant group which claimed the kidnapping.
    Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has threatened to sell the girls abducted on April 14 from a secondary school in Chibok "on the market", prompting a warning from the United Nations that this would make the perpetrators liable for war crimes.
    Boko Haram's five-year-old insurgency is aimed at reviving a medieval Islamic caliphate in modern Nigeria, whose 170 million people are split roughly evenly between Christians and Muslims, and it is becoming by far the biggest security threat to Africa's top oil producer.
    Islamic scholars and human rights officials of the world's largest Muslim organisation denounced the Boko Haram kidnapping as "a gross misinterpretation of Islam" and demanded the schoolgirls' release.

    "This crime and other crimes carried out by such extremist organisations ... stand in contradiction to the clear teachings of the blessed Koran," the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC) Fiqh Academy said in a statement.
    This week, eight more girls were seized.
    Boko Haram has emerged in a region that is one of the world's poorest, with high infant mortality, low literacy and massive youth unemployment that creates easy recruits for radical Islam. Campaigners often call on the government to do more to tackle the north's underdevelopment, which contrasts with a relatively prosperous, oil-rich and largely Christian south.
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