By Clare Kim
Two weeks have passed since the militant group Boko Haram abducted
234 school girls from their boarding school in northern Nigeria.
The teenage girls, who range in age from 16 to 18, were taken from their
dormitories at the Government Girls Secondary School in the town of
Chibok on April 14 and taken away by trucks in the middle of the night.
There are now reports that indicate the school girls, who were thought to
be held hostage in the Sambisa Forest, have been sold as brides to Islamic
militants for 2,000 naira, or $12.
Nigerian officials have confirmed the teenage girls were kidnapped by
Boko Haram, but have not yet confirmed if they have been sold as brides.
“We have heard from members of the forest community where they took
the girls,” said Samson Dawah, whose niece Saratu was among the 234
girls abducted by militants.
“They said there had been mass marriages and
the girls are being shared out as wives among the Boko Haram militants.”
“My wife keeps asking me, why isn’t the government deploying every
means to find our children,” Dawah said.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration has been under
enormous pressure from the parents of the students and the international
community. Jonathan has said his security forces are doing all they can to
locate and safely bring the girls back home.
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