Chibok Girls' Parents, Supporters Meet Nigerian President
Hundreds of parents and sympathizers of more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram Islamists in northeast Nigeria met President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday to renew calls for their release.
The 300 or so marchers, many of them crying, trekked through the capital Abuja before being taken in buses for an audience with Buhari at his official residence.
After the behind-closed-doors meeting, former education minister Oby Ezekwesili, who leads the BringBackOurGirls protest group, said Buhari asked for more time to rescue the 219 schoolgirls.
A total of 276 teenagers were seized from their dormitories at the school in Chibok, in the northeastern state of Borno, on April 14, 2014.
Fifty-seven managed to escape soon afterwards but the remainder are still being held and have not been seen since they appeared in a Boko Haram video message released in May, 2014.
The abduction caused outrage around the world and focused attention on the bloody insurgency, which has left at least 17,000 dead since 2009 and forced some 2.6 million from their homes.
The BringBackOurGirls group has kept up the pressure on the government with regular demonstrations and daily vigils in Abuja.
But Ezekwesili said Buhari told them there was no "reliable intelligence that would enable them to rescue the girls as immediately as we are demanding".
Buhari has said he is prepared to negotiate with any "credible" Boko Haram leaders for their release.
Source: Agence France Presse
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