Nigerian Cardinal: Bring kidnapped girls home

(Vatican Radio) It has been three weeks since more than 300 teenage school girls were kidnapped from a school in northeastern Nigeria by the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, sparking widespread outrage over the government’s inability to locate the missing girls. At least 53 of the girls have managed to escape their captors since their abduction on 15 April, while 276 are believed to still be in captivity.
 
On Monday, a video was released by Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in which he threatened to sell the girls, and to attack more schools and abduct more girls. Incidentally, the term Boko Haram means: “Western education is sinful”.
The mass abduction and the military’s failure to rescue the girls and young women has roused national outrage with protests in major cities.
 
“We are all ashamed,” said Archbishop of Abuja Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan in an interview with Emer McCarthy. “The fact that, up until now we are hearing practically nothing concrete on the issue, I think almost every Nigerian is taken aback. We cannot explain what is happening”.
 
Full text of the Official Vatican Network available here: Nigerian Cardinal_ Bring kidnapped girls home