IRD, Allied Groups to Rally for Abducted Nigerian Schoolgirls Awaiting Rescue from Boko Haram Militants

on July 23, 2014

Institute on Religion and Democracy Media Advisory
July 23, 2014
Contact: Jeff Walton Office: 202-682-4131, Cell: 202-413-5639, E-Mail: jwalton@TheIRD.org

Washington, DC—Over 200 schoolgirls from northeastern Nigeria remain captives of the militant Islamist group Boko Haram 100 days after their abduction. Word of the girls’ plight spread quickly through social media through the #bringbackourgirls hashtag.

Several dozen girls have escaped their captors, telling of forced conversions to Islam and forced marriages. According to the Los Angeles Times, Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, threatened to sell the girls “in the market” and referred to them as “slaves” soon after the kidnapping.

What:  Rally marking 100 days of captivity for schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram
Who:   Institute on Religion & Democracy, Jubilee Campaign and The Working Group on Nigeria
Where: Embassy of Nigeria, 3519 International Ct NW, Washington, DC 20008
When: Thursday, July 24, Noon – 2 p.m.

IRD Religious Liberty Program Director Faith J. H. McDonnell commented:

“The intentions of Boko Haram to forcibly Islamize Nigeria through horrific violence are a very serious threat both to U.S. security and to the citizens of Nigeria.

“The State Department continues to downplay Boko Haram’s Islamist nature, preferring to see the terrorist murderers as victims of poverty and marginalization, even though they have been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Moral equivalency is not the way to handle Boko Haram.

“Boko Haram has been relentless in its attacks against Christians and their places of worship. Although this rally is about the Chibok girls, it is also to call attention to all of the Nigerians who have been killed, left widowed or orphaned, and/or displaced from their homes and communities by these jihadists.”

www.TheIRD.org

  1. Comment by Pudentiana on July 23, 2014 at 9:46 pm

    I hope this brings action in the rescue of these innocent girls. I have read horrific stories about how they have been treated. I hope they are only propaganda. What these women need is to have means to defend themselves..since no one else seems interested.

  2. Comment by Brett Holdeman on July 24, 2014 at 3:15 pm

    Amen, sister! If only Obama would ask Nigeria if they minded him sending a battalion of Marines into their country, they could put an end to Boko Haram once and for all…his foreign policy stinks to Heaven, and I know Christ’s heart is breaking over this laissez-faire nonchalance of his. I don’t know for the life of me what his major malfunction is, but it appears to be either fear (of doing anything against his Muslim ‘homies’) or apathy towards the ‘least of these’. I am so glad his dumb a@$ is in his second and final term, for he is hands-down the worst POTUS we’ve ever had…

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