Nigerian villagers call for UN protection
Date 2014/7/5 16:36:43 | Topic: Nigeria
|  Desperate Nigerian villagers from the northeast have pleaded for UN protection against the Boko Haram Takfiri militants.
The villagers, who are from the town of Chibok in the restive state of Borno, requested UN help on Friday to soothe their sufferings.
Following the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in April, the militants have further terrorized Chibok by carrying out 15 attacks on 19 villages and killing over 200 people, local elder Pogu Bitrus told a press conference in the capital Abuja.
“The Chibok nation wishes to categorically state that the inability or unwillingness of the federal government to provide adequate security… following the abduction of the girls leaves us with no option than to call on the United Nations to use its apparatus to come to our aid and protect us from imminent annihilation as a people,” Bitrus said.
Chibok’s residents have also called on the government to “go into immediate negotiation with the Boko Haram … with a view to securing the safe release of the girls,” he added.
Experts say the military has failed to counter the surge of violence plaguing the region, due to a lack of funds from the government.
On April 14, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 students from their secondary school in Chibok.
Reports say 57 of the girls managed to escape, but 219 are still missing and international efforts to spot and rescue them have failed so far.
The Nigerian government has been under intense pressure by many people around the globe especially the girls’ families to secure their release.
Media reports say the militants also kidnapped 91 people -- 31 boys and 60 girls and women -- during one of their attacks against villages in Borno in June.
Boko Haram -- whose name means “Western education is forbidden” -- says its goal is to overthrow the Nigerian government.
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