NIGERIA: Nigerian women activists vow to march 'half-naked' in Chibok for kidnapped schoolgirls
Record ID:
236713
NIGERIA: Nigerian women activists vow to march 'half-naked' in Chibok for kidnapped schoolgirls
- Title: NIGERIA: Nigerian women activists vow to march 'half-naked' in Chibok for kidnapped schoolgirls
- Date: 12th May 2014
- Summary: LAGOS, NIGERIA, (MAY 12, 2014) (REUTERS) FEET OF MARCHING PROTESTERS PROTESTERS MARCHING AND SINGING 'BRING BACK OUR GIRLS' VARIOUS OF PROTEST PLACARDS LITTLE GIRL AT PROTEST (SOUNDBITE) (English) WOMAN ACTIVIST JOEI ODUMAKIN, SAYING: "The essence of today's protest is that we are tired, we are sick and tired of rhetorics and now is the time for us to act and that is why we are saying that they should rescue the girls now. The girls must be rescued now and that should be done while they are still alive and that is the essence of this protest. That is why all of us are gathered here and we are kickstarting with Lagos on Tuesday, we are moving to the east on Wednesday, that's Enugu, Wednesday will be in Lokoja, Thursday will be in Onitsha and Kaduna, we are going to be in Jigawa. At the end of 14 days of the nationwide protest, if nothing is done, God forbid, all of us are going to protest half-naked inside Chibok, we are going there and we are ready to lay down our lives." VARIOUS OF GROUP OF SCHOOLGIRLS PROTESTING (SOUNDBITE) (English) SCHOOLGIRL GAMBO FREDOUS, SAYING: "It's bad because now in our world today, you know due to globalization and technology, education is one thing like, education is our legacy, it's something everyone needs now. Like without education, you can't go far in this world, and I don't know why some girls should be deprived of that because every girl has the right to go to school, every girl has the right to education. So it's very, very bad and painful that some girls are deprived of this right." (SOUNDBITE) (English) SCHOOLGIRL OWULUEBELECHUKWU STEPHANIE, SAYING: "I don't really know what to say but I'd really love everyone to stand forth in order to save them, in order to bring them out untouched and unhurt." VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS MARCHING AND CHANTING PLACARD READING: "HUNT DOWN DEFILERS OF INNOCENT GIRLS (WOMEN ARISE AGAINST TERROR) (SOUNDBITE) (English) NIGERIAN ACTOR JIDE KOSOKO, SAYING: "Girls, future mothers, they took them to where we don't know, and we are all home eating, because you think your kids are not involved? You are lying, this war is for everyone. We must all say no to terrorism, we must act now because we will not allow anybody to use any religion to divide us." PROTESTERS STANDING AND LISTENING
- Embargoed: 27th May 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Nigeria
- Country: Nigeria
- Topics: Crime,General,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVABQ01ZPB9QUDLGQICZI0Y90S2K
- Story Text: Hundreds of men, women and schoolgirls marched in Lagos on Monday (May 12), demanding the release of more than 200 schoolgirls that continue to be held by Nigerian Islamist rebel group Boko Haram.
The protesters chanted 'Bring back our girls,' carried placards and sang 'We shall overcome' as they marched through the streets of the capital on what a group of women activists said would be a 14-day, multi-city protest culminating in a 'half-naked' protest at the site of the abductions, if nothing has happened by then.
"At the end of 14 days of the nationwide protest, if nothing is done, God forbid, all of us are going to protest half-naked inside Chibok, we are going there and we are ready to lay down our lives," said woman activist Joei Odumakin.
Other schoolgirls were out protesting in solidarity with the kidnapped girls, including Gambo Fredous who said all girls have a right to education.
"Without education, you can't go far in this world, and I don't know why some girls should be deprived of that," she said.
Militants fighting for an Islamist state stormed a secondary school in the northeastern village of Chibok on April 14 and seized 276 girls who were taking exams. Some managed to escape but around 200 remain missing.
The group has killed thousands since 2009 and destabilized parts of northeast Nigeria, the country with Africa's largest population and biggest economy. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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