Boko Haram was once largely unknown outside of Nigeria until its militants infamously abducted 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno state in 2014, triggering the viral hashtag #BringBackOurGirls. The global campaign was embraced by prominent celebrities and U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, at last drawing international attention to the militant group’s insurgency in the country’s northeastern region. While 82 girls were released in May 2017, 112 abductees have still not returned home. Some are presumed to be dead. And efforts to propel the kidnappings into the global limelight haven’t slowed the jihadist group down.
Just recently, the kidnapping of approximately 300 girls in Nigeria’s northwestern Zamfara state on Feb. 26 and the abduction of 27 students from an all-boys college in north-central Niger state one week earlier, was attributed by regional governments to criminal gangs or “bandits”—but the attacks bear all the hallmarks of Boko Haram abductions. The group is likely to continue targeting schools because the attacks help it weaken state security forces while gaining publicity and funding in the form of ransoms.
