Here is a timeline of significant events
since the abduction of more than 200
schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in
northeastern Nigeria a year ago on
Tuesday.
– April 2014 –
– 14: 276 girls, aged from 12 to 17, are
seized from the remote town of Chibok in
Borno state, northeastern Nigeria.
Boko Haram gunmen storm the girls’
boarding school, forcing them from their
dormitories onto trucks and driving them
into the bush. Fifty-seven girls manage to
flee.
– 29: Parents lash out at the government’s
failure to rescue the girls.
– May –
– 1: Hundreds of parents, many dressed in
red, protest in Chibok to demand help from
the government and other countries.
– 5: Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau
claims responsibility in a video statement
for the mass abduction, and vows to sell
the girls as slave brides.
– 7: US First Lady Michelle Obama tweets a
picture of herself with a sign reading
#BringBackOurGirls, joining a social media
storm.
The campaign also attracts politicians,
actors and other prominent public figures,
such as Pakistani education activist and
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala
Yousafzai and CNN star anchor Christiane
Amanpour.
– 9: Amnesty International claims Nigeria’s
military was warned of the school attack
but failed to take action due to lack of
manpower. The military denies the
allegation.
The UN Security Council strongly
condemns the mass kidnappings which it
says “may amount to crimes against
humanity” under international law.
– 10: British, French and US experts
provide help for the search operation.
China and Israel also offer assistance.
– 12: Boko Haram releases a new video
showing about 100 of the missing girls,
alleging the teenagers have converted to
Islam and will not be released until
militants are freed in a prisoner exchange.
– 17: Nigeria and its neighbours Benin,
Chad, Cameroon and Niger vow to work
together to fight Boko Haram in what
Cameroon President Paul Biya describes as
a “declaration of war”.
– 21: The United States deploys 80 military
personnel to Chad to help regional efforts
to rescue the schoolgirls.
– 26: Nigeria’s highest ranking military
officer, Chief of Defence Staff Alex Badeh,
says they have located the missing
teenagers but warns a rescue operation
would put their lives at risk.
– 27: News emerges that Nigeria’s former
president Olusegun Obasanjo has been in
talks with Boko Haram to broker a deal to
release the girls.
– June –
– 12: Representatives from Nigeria, Chad,
Cameroon, Niger and Benin agree to
strengthen joint efforts to find the
schoolgirls and defeat Boko Haram.
– July –
– 18: Borno state Governor Kashim
Shettima says 176 teachers have been
killed and 900 schools destroyed in Borno
since Boko Haram began attacking them in
2011, because they are centres of Western
education
– 22: First meeting between Nigerian
President Goodluck Jonathan and the
schoolgirls’ relatives.
– September –
– 25: Nigeria’s police claim that one of the
schoolgirls has been found but elders
reject the claim.
– October –
– 14: Protesters mark six months since the
abduction with a march on the Nigerian
presidency but are blocked.
– 17: Nigeria’s chief security spokesman
Mike Omeri says no deal is in place to
release the girls after the presidency says a
ceasefire deal has been reached with Boko
Haram.
Boko Haram chief Shekau later dismisses
the ceasefire claim and says all the girls
have been “married off”.
– November –
– 14: Boko Haram seizes Chibok. The army
recaptures it two days later.
– February 2015 –
– 8: Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai
calls for global support to demand “urgent
action” to release the girls, on their 300th
day in captivity.
– March –
– 6: Work begins to rebuild the kidnapped
girls’ school in Chibok.
– 17: Nigeria’s army chief admits there is
“no news for now” about the girls’ fate,
despite military successes in recapturing
towns from the insurgents.
