ICC Note:
Parliamentarians of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have been applauded for their efforts in campaign for the release and immediate return of the more than 240 schoolgirls who remain in Boko Haram captivity after their mass-abduction by the radical Islamic insurgency in April. Recognizing the thus-far unsuccessful nature of the campaign, however, speaker of the Gambian National Assembly, Abdoulie Bojang, asked the entirety of the ECOWAS parliament to unite in demanding the girls’ immediate and unconditional release and return. Learn everything you need to know about Boko Haram’s heinous schoolgirl abduction here.
07/21/2014 Gambia (allAfrica) – Gambian lawmakers who sit as members of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have been hailed by the speaker of the National Assembly for what he called their participation in the sub-regional advocacy for the release of more than 200 girls abducted in April 2014 from a school in Chibok Northeastern Nigeria, by the Islamist militant group, Boko Haram. Despite the chorus of global condemnation and call for their immediate release, Boko Haram remains defiant.
The latest to give the campaign for the release of the girls a push was the Pakistani teen activist, Malala, who travelled to Nigeria Sunday to urge the government to do more for the immediate release of the girls.
“Let me commend The Gambia-ECOWAS lawmakers for being part of the sub-regional parliamentarians advocating for the immediate release of Chibok secondary school girls held by Boko Haram sect,” Speaker Abdoulie Bojang said in an interview with the Daily Observer Wednesday at his Independence Drive office in Banjul.
Bojang however used the opportunity to challenge the sub-regional ECOWAS parliamentarians to unite as one family and take a common position in pursuing the release of the innocent girls. “They have done nothing and yet are subjected to all sorts of punishment from Boko Haram group,” he further stated.
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