On April 14 234 teenaged Chibok girls were abducted from their boarding school by Boko Haram, a terrorist group in Northern Nigeria. Nigerians themselves seemed slow to take notice and the rest of the world even slower. But when CNN and co finally did so it was like overkill. Below is a collection of tweets, mainly from Nigerian writers chronicling and reacting to the mainstream media coverage of the abduction and the hashtag campaign that started in Nigeria and its diaspora.
As the #BringBackOurGirls campaign in Nigeria and its diaspora intensified mainstream media suddenly came on board with high profile personalities like Michelle Obama and others posing with placards that shouted #BringBackOurGirls. Predictably it wasn’t long before some bright spark started hijacking the hashtagged statement as evident in the two images below, of Michelle O and Andrew Holness, Jamaica’s Opposition Leader.
-
Abducted Nigerian girls put terrorist group on world map
The mass abduction of several hundred schoolgirls sparked outrage. But it was the rambling, hourlong Hausa-language video by the terrorist group’s leader that triggered a global uproar. In it, Boko Haram chief Abubakar Shekau threatened to sell the teenage girls “into the marketplace” as slaves, or force them to marry by age 12. -
Hmmm. When malaysian flight was missin a lot of Naija celebs were praying for them and sharing opinions. Missing girls… silence. -
FLASHBACK: US’s offer 2 help fight Boko Haram http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/08/clinton-to-jonathan-how-you-can-fight-terrorism/ … But what happened? Who knows @TunjiLardner @naijama @sojapa @DapsyOly -
Arise O Compatriots. #freeOurGirls -
200 girls are missing in Nigeria – so why doesn’t anybody care? | Anne Perkins http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/23/200-girls-missing-nigeria-care-sewol-tragedy …“
-
How were BH able to transport 200 girls from one location to another in a state swarming with soldiers? #BringBackOurGirls -
Must read: A schoolgirl’s incredible story of escape from #BokoHaram mass kidnapping in #Nigeria http://ow.ly/wbMq0 #BringBackOurGirls -
The world mobilized to find Malaysian Air Flight 370; can it not also do the same for 200 girls? http://is.gd/C9bkqj #BringBackOurGirls -
See my people 😀 “@abubakar47i: Our Mothers in the Kaduna procession today #BringBackOurGirls pic.twitter.com/VvubuK3Oqw“ -
What matters now is that those girls are rescued. Whether by negotiations or by military action -
@leidychichi The girls have been taken away from Nigerian soil. Protests are to get intl awareness and military support.
-
Photos: Waje, Seun Kuti, Other Celebs Hit The Streets Of Lagos For #BringBackOurGirls Campaign http://nblo.gs/Wuto4 -
If you’re in or around #London on Friday, 9th of May, join us at the Nigeria House #BringBackOurGirls . 10am – 1pm pic.twitter.com/PBLwaqBiBp -
234 chibok girls. 45 Murdered Buni Yadi boys. 100 in Damaturu. So a select group of Niggas can get power and renew Billion $ oil licenses -
The operation started from 11pm till 5am. all these while, calls were put across to the JTF but no response. #Chibok234 -
After the operations, the assailants allegedly loaded their victims in about 3 trailers, 4 busses & a number of trucks. #Chibok234
-
Their movement was slow and in about 2 kilometers away, one of the vehicles developed fault & they took about an hour to fix it #Chibok234
-
They also said that #Chibok is a xtian dominated town and that most of the kidnap victims are xtians. #BringBackOurGirls
-
The story will not be complete without a mention of Mr.Bitrus Madu. He lost 5 daughters, he is currently on admission. #BringBackOurGirls
-
In Nigeria as part of team covering missing girls. Tweet me questions you want put to officials.#BringBackOurGirls pic.twitter.com/d0YE4Bm8pb -
Because everybody must be seen to “care.” No context, only sentiment. RT @chrisbrown: #BringBackOurGirls pic.twitter.com/ec0n8kwZeH -
I understand the impulse to “do something.” But Boko Haram is irreducibly complex. Makes Kony look like child’s play. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27249097 … -
These are difficult conversations to have because we’re good and we care. We don’t want to be interrupted during the fervor of our hashtags.
-
Part of the horror was that the girls were ignored. An opposite problem now is CNN’s heavy sensationalist interest. https://twitter.com/clancycnn/status/462621487694757889 …
-
The President I Want, By Award Winning Chimamanda Adichie – http://www.indepthnigeria.com/headlines/the-president-i-want-by-award-winning-chimamanda-adichie/ … pic.twitter.com/b4Z9ptnhlc -
Patience Jonathan: “Nigerian women, don’t demonstrate again. If you demonstrate and police do you anything, you are on your own.” #Surreal -
Fitfam for the mind. @elnathan urges you to “wake up and smell the moringa”… http://elnathanjohn.blogspot.in/2014/05/jonathan-needs-moringa.html?m=0 … -
“@elnathan: JONATHAN NEEDS MORINGA http://elnathanjohn.blogspot.in/2014/05/jonathan-needs-moringa.html?m=0 … @ALIBABAGCFR” m sure he didn’t take it before his media chat -
Let us be clear, the government was never going to do anything about this; the girls were abducted the same day… http://fb.me/2Geo64IIq -
great piece on Boko Haram by Tolu Ogunlesi http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/6bf130ac-bb16-11e3-948c-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=intl#axzz30q36Fzks … @toluogunlesi -
@gbengasesan Top 10 countries spreading #BringBackOurGirls worldwide; Nigeria (33%), USA (28%), UK (14%) pic.twitter.com/UlEU77vxnL -
“May your house be on CNN.”—Bosnian curse
-
Gentle reminder: the U.S. recently built a drone base in Niger: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/23/world/africa/in-niger-us-troops-set-up-drone-base.html …
-
Who did dis? *holdslaff* I said who did dis? *burst* ROTFLWTMB #diarisGodo! pic.twitter.com/geQRxkvqUm -
The most important thing you will read on #givebackourgirls http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/05/captivity.html … by @tejucole #Nigeria -
The story behind the story: Nigeria itself has been missing for years.
-
@elnathan Sometimes I wonder if Nigeria is run by smart people who r purposely deceiving us, or by idiots who r really trying their best. -
-
To agree on sorrow, even in the absence of other agreements, is not nothing.
-
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan puts vacation hold on NYT subscription: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/07/opinion/nigerias-stolen-girls.html?smid=tw-share&smv1 … Via @vikasbajaj #BringBackOurGirls -
@soniafaleiro @vikasbajaj Wearily deletes New Yorker app from his iPhone.
-
The Chinese have also offered to help Nigeria #BringBackOurGirls . I never knew the Chinese for this though… -
History counts its skeletons in round numbers. A thousand and one remains a thousand, as though the one had never existed. —Szymborska
-
#BringBackOurGirls. And bring back our country, President Jonathan | Chibundu Onuzo http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/07/bring-back-our-girls-nigeria-president-jonathan-boko-haram … -
Boko Haram killed more human beings yesterday than the total number of girls they kidnapped three weeks ago. Horrifying, and unhashtagable.
-
For four years, Nigerians have tried to understand these homicidal monsters. Your new interest (thanks) simplifies nothing, solves nothing.
-
If they were #ourgirls why did it take us so long to realize they were missing? #Bringbackourgirls indeed. Read this http://www.compareafrique.com/dear-americans-hashtags-wont-bringbackourgirls-might-actually-making-things-worse/ … -
Simple question. Are you Nigerian? Do you have constitutional rights accorded to Nigerians to participate in their democratic process? If not, I have news you. You can’t do anything about the girls missing in Nigeria. You can’t. Your insistence on urging American power, specifically American military power, to address this issue will ultimately hurt the …
-
Remember: #bringbackourgirls, a vital moment for Nigerian democracy, is not the same as #bringbackourgirls, a wave of global sentimentality.
-
“‘We’ are not the ‘we’ that ‘we’ imagine ourselves to be.” This piece by @zeynep says so much so well: https://medium.com/message/3c3ab5d1dc0e …
-
Unlike some, I have no problem with the world adopting #BringBackOurGirls and the use of the word “our”. I think that is important. -
Now you have two sisters. RT @elnathan: I have one sister. I noticed that one of the Chibok girls has my sister’s exact name and last name. -
I am always worried when people in government also use #BringBackThegirls. YOU are the ones we are asking to bring them back! -
The girl in this viral photo from #bringbackourgirls is not Nigerian. And she wasn’t abducted. http://wapo.st/1nvIcb0 pic.twitter.com/J8OL1lzAJn -
If energy does not shift hashtag into a larger political movement, next week there will be another loud sterile hashtag #bringbackourgirls
-
1. Spurious photos 2. White lady claims she started hashtag 3. Americans collect money in girls’ name #ff White Savior Industrial Complex
-
When @ahmpreston asked me about BH in July 2013, I pointed out the govt’s utter fecklessness. http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/comment/articles/2014-02/04-/boko-haram-nigeria-islamic-terrorists … pic.twitter.com/9HeDJC0LTT -
There has been a long catalog of atrocities and betrayals; #bringbackourgirls contains, for Nigerians, very many grievances, not just one.
-
BUT: I do think the domestic and international scrutiny are both putting a floodlight on Nigeria’s light-averse government.
-
This perhaps is the international community’s role: serve as witness to what Nigerians must mostly do themselves, and amplify Nigerian work.
-
@tejucole I am concerned about timing of concern from the west, It could be a ploy to make Nigeria like Iraq, there is oil after all -
Really all that remains is for Goodluck to take a selfie with #BringBackOurGirls on an A4 paper or crested on his bowler hat. -
I will sleep. And if I wake and see Mama Peace in a selfie with #BringBackOurGirls ashoebi I will not be shocked. This is afterall, Nigeria.
-
@lolashoneyin In color. pic.twitter.com/OAOgnSHojL -
@tejucole why throw cold water on genuine expressions of outrage and concern? Global indifference would be worse no? -
“@Abu_Aaid: “@tejucole urges us to keep this at the back of our minds as we help #BringBackOurGirls. pic.twitter.com/MXE41Rc748” #Fact”So my sister came visiting. Her biggest annoyance in this whole matter is that Malala has intervened. “Nigeria is better than Pakistan!”
-
-
Diversity, Credit and Hashtag Activism: How a Nigerian Movement Got HijackedBY Zeynep Tufekci | Friday, May 9 2014 Diversity, in the newsroom, in the developer cave, on the conference circuit, or in the writers retreat, is often interpreted as a “feel good” act, or, at most, an act of justice to compensate for structural inequalities that pervade our world.
Share this:
Active Voice 