Categories: News

#BringBackOurGirls: Nigerian Police Remove Placards of Missing Girls

It’s Day 64, and many continue to wonder where are the girls? What is being done to bring them back? Any updates? Is there any information on the progress to secure them and bring them home safely?

As these questions continue to harbor in many of our minds, many of us continue to be committed to drawing attention to the missing girls and the need for everything to be done to bring them back.

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One such group has been the Women for Peace and Justice organization, where citizens have continued their advocacy and awareness efforts in support of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign.

When the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) released, what is now to date, the only official list of missing girls, Women for Peace and Justice decided to show their solidarity and commitment to the girls by placing 174 placards around Falomo Roundabout in Lagos.

The signs were placed on the roundabout on May 8th and served as a medium for people to be reminded that the girls are still missing and the goal of retrieving them should not be forgotten.

Unfortunately, the unthinkable happened. On June 14th, it was discovered that the placards had been taken down (pictured below), even though the girls have not been found.

It was later revealed that the Nigerian Police forcibly removed the placards in the dark and early hours of the morning.

This is completely unacceptable, especially since permission was granted to place the placards there.

Sadly, the Police have not mentioned or released a statement why they removed them.

Even with the placards down, we will continue to show our concern and fierce dedication. Every life is valuable and we have a responsibility as citizens to not simply “let this go.”

We remember that it could have been any of us taken or killed by terrorists, which is why we must be relentless. In the coming days, we hope we get an answer or an explanation as to why the police force would commit such an act.

In the meantime, we just want our girls back now and alive.

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Ijeoma Mba

An advocate of social change and equality, Ijeoma Mba enjoys promoting community and civic engagement. Mba’s personal motto is “don’t confuse the difficult with impossible,” which she has applied to her work and various roles as a community organizer, mobilizing communities around health and economic well-being and as a Community Relations Manager with Enough is Enough Nigeria, where she focuses on engaging citizens to promote good governance in the nation. Mba has a Master of Science in Social Administration, Community and Social Development from the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University and a Bachelor of Science in Sociology from the University of West Georgia.