Two years ago, 279 school girls were kidnapped from the Chibok Secondary School in northeastern Nigeria by Boko Haram, the self-styled West African State of the Islamic State’s Caliphate. Now vigilantes fighting Boko Haram have freed 19-year-old Amina Ali Nkeki, bringing to 61 the number of girls reunited with their families. Amina, who was 17 when kidnapped, reports 6 of the girls have perished in captivity, leaving 212 still to be rescued.
Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, vowed to end Boko Haram’s reign of terror by the end of last year. That deadline has come and gone, but progress has nonetheless been made, reducing Boko Haram’s operational range and putting major towns in northeastern Nigeria out of reach to conventional attacks.
This includes the city of Maiduguri, which is both the birthplace of Boko Haram and the seat of Bishop Oliver Doeme’s Catholic Diocese of Maiduguri.
Join us in praying for an end to the terrible tragedy of the kidnapped girls and for their return to their families; for a final and complete end to the Boko Haram horror, and for a peace during which Bishop Doeme can rebuild his desecrated churches.
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