Artist hopes to ‘breathe’ life into 2014 Chibok abductions
ABUJA, Nigeria — Margret Yama’s phone screensaver is a photo of her cousin, Rifkatu Galang, who is still held by Boko Haram extremists nearly nine years after she and 275 other girls were seized from their school in northeastern Nigeria.
Yama was among those taken but later freed.
Dozens of others have been rescued or found, but 94, including her cousin, remain missing in what was one of the Islamic extremist group’s most daring attacks in Nigeria.
“I saved her as my screensaver so that any time I see her face, it will remind me to be praying for her to return” along with the others, Yama, 25, said. “They are in my prayers every day.”
On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram stormed the Government Girls Secondary School in the Chibok community in Borno state and abducted the girls as they prepared for science exams.
Many of the girls remained missing, sparking the #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign that involved celebrities worldwide.
Now, the missing girls are being remembered in sculptures created by French artist Prune Nourry in collaboration with Obafemi Awolowo University.
Inspired by ancient Nigerian Ife terracotta heads, the series titled Statues Also Breathe tries to re-create the girls’ facial expressions and hair patterns.
Nourry hopes the sculptures on display in Nigeria’s commercial hub of Lagos will remind the world of a largely forgotten tragedy.
“These heads personify the absent girls, still missing, so that we don’t forget them, and raise the question of the rights of girls to a safe education on a global scale,”
the artist said.
This year, about a dozen of the missing girls returned amid news that some had died in custody.
Zanna Lawan, whose daughter was 16 when she was abducted, said one of the girls who returned last year told him that “Aisha has two children with Boko Haram but lost one of her elder sons.”
All of the girls in captivity are married now, Lawan said.
“There is nothing I am feeling good for because of this. All that I am now looking for is to see my daughter alive,” Lawan said.
The girls who regained their freedom this year did not come home alone. All had children, 24 total, from the extremists, the parents said.
Over the years, freed girls have spoken of how the fighters forced them into marriages. As the years went by, others who resisted eventually gave in.
“If you see anyone that got married, it is her choice. She is the one that decided that she has lost hope,” said Yama, who regained her freedom in 2017. “Most of them, I think, it is losing hope that made them to marry.”
A year after the girls were kidnapped, now-President Muhammadu Buhari rode a wave of goodwill to power
after promising to rescue them.
Last month, the nation’s national security adviser, Babagana Monguno, said the military remains committed to the cause but said it involves an “intelligence-driven process, which means it is going to be, unfortunately, painstaking.”
But the Chibok community continues to suffer attacks from Boko Haram and a breakaway faction, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.
“I know the Nigerian army, they can finish this work within 24 hours, but I don’t know what makes it to be so difficult” said Yakubu Nkeki, whose niece was among the girls freed.
As chair of the Chibok girls’ parents union, Nkeki tries his best to offer hope to families.
“Even though my own has regained freedom, I don’t have peace of mind,” he said.
While studying law at American University of Nigeria, Yama continues trying to navigate her life back to normalcy after years of living with the extremists.
But her biggest challenge is staying hopeful that her cousin — and all the other girls — will return home one day