We Need Our Girls Back

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

On April 14^th, 2014, in Chebok, Borno, 276 Nigerian girls were abducted by Abubakar Shekau, a Nigerian Islamist rebel leader of the group, Boko Haram.  Since the time of the kidnapping, some of the females have been able to escape. For the past month, we have heard little to nothing at all about the troubling situation. Instead, we have been fed stories of the hostages being forced to marry their kidnappers, being sold as sex slaves, and being trafficked over the border to Cameroon.

Today was possibly the first time I heard anything on these girls. I happened to hear a brief and detailed report about them on the Channel 6 News. The Islamist rebel leader submitted a video through Youtube, announcing that he will exchange the girls for Boko Haram’s prisoners. In the video we also witnessed the Nigerian ladies clad in ebony and grey veils, sitting on the ground, chanting and singing in Arabic. However, the strangest factor of the video is the speaker himself. According to sources like CNN and other web sites, Shekau is supposedly deceased. Clearly, this must be someone impersonating as him, carrying on his name, and actions of his departed leader.

After the video was presented, the reporters made their remarks. One in particular triggered my brain into a frenzy of confusion, anger, and concern.  This comment included that the president of Nigeria was possibly considering returning the girls home.

The word ‘possibly’ shouldn’t even be used in that sentence.  ‘Definitely’ should replace ‘possibly’, especially when it comes to rescuing the lives of young, human beings who haven’t even seen the world yet. We are dealing with youthful lives here and not property or inanimate objects. These lives should be treated as humanly as possible and should be returned home; not possibly considered, but definitely considered. What troubles me even more is the fact that everyone is just now reporting on this dire situation and taking a stand to do something about it. It baffles me that nothing was being done over a month ago when it originally occurred.

On May 10th, Nigeria’s government has assigned two army divisions to find the girls. The Nigerian president has claimed to meet with neighboring countries as well as Britain, France, Israel, and America.  Let us hope we can find these girls and bring them back home, where they belong, and not in the possession of their captors.