God will not let Nigerian leaders have peace until they rescue kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls, says pastor
A pastor from Nigeria condemned the nation's leaders for not taking action to rescue the Chibok girls who were abducted in 2014. Chinedu Ezekwesili declared at a prayer service that God will take away the peace from the leaders until the schoolgirls are set free.
Ezekwesili, the husband of the co-convener of the #BringBackOurGirls coalition, stated that Nigerian leaders are not concerned about the Chibok girls because their children are not among those abducted.
He suggested that the Chibok girls were kidnapped because of the lack of government response to the terrorist attack at the Federal Government College of Bun Yadi. The attack was carried out in February 2014 and resulted in the death of 59 students.
"Boko Haram took the girls because the government did nothing to address the killing of the students at Buni Yadi. We had a Commander-in-Chief and number one citizen in (Goodluck) Jonathan, but he did nothing," the pastor said.
"We have religious leaders, we have bishops, we have imams, we have general overseers, but they kept quiet and did nothing. Today (Sunday) is 874 days since the abduction, is it not shocking that the money meant for use in fighting the terrorists was shared, blood money?" he asked.
Last month, Boko Haram released a video showing some of the abducted schoolgirls. The group demanded the release of its fighters in exchange for the girls. The group also showed footage of dead girls who they claimed to have died in air strikes. Boko Haram insisted that the girls would only be released once its demands have been met.
The Coalition Against Terrorism and Extremism (CATE) organized a protest last week and asked the federal government not to engage in any negotiations with Boko Haram.
