Lagos, Nigeria has been called the New York of Africa, full of upscale shops and restaurants, and a thriving middle and upper class living in and around the city. Just a few hours away in Chibok, Muslim terrorists of Boko Haram attacked the Government Girls Secondary School. The Nigerian government has been scrambling the past few days trying to locate more than 200 female students that were kidnapped from the female private school when armed militants killed security guards and police and herded the students onto a bus in the Muslim north of Nigeria. Boko Haram roughly translates into “Western education is sinful.” At first, the Nigerian government claimed all the girls were recovered; now they admit many are still missing after a few girls were able to escape.
At this time, there has been no demand for ransom which could indicate another purpose of the fighters; the girls could be forced to marry their captors as part of war bride prizes commonly given to jihad fighters. Boko Haram has attacked schools, shopping malls and burned people alive in churches. The group’s main purpose is to institute a strict form of Islamic law called Sharia. Sharia law forbids the education of women and the expulsion of Christians and a return to the Caliphates. The group is affiliated with the terror group al-Qaeda. At this time, the Nigerian government can give no update on the students or what military action is it contemplating.
