[Photos] Chibok Girls activists march to Buhari with lips sealed, blocked by police

For the third time in a week, Bring Back Our Girls activists have been prevented from having access to president Muhammadu Buhari to press home their demands for the rescue of the missing Chibok girls.

The latest protest was different from the previous two as the protesters sealed their lips with tapes in what the group described as a ‘‘silent march.’‘ The group has in the past undertaken such processions to the presidency.

As they approached the presidential palace, they were met by a police barricade. They sat on the streets before the police and addressed their concerns relating to the Chibok girls who were abducted by Boko Haram in 2014.

> #BBOGmarchestoVilla#SilentMarch#BringBackOurGirls pic.twitter.com/6g6OaFI4rt

— #BringBackOurGirls (@BBOG_Nigeria) August 30, 2016

Whiles reminding the government that Tuesday August 30 marked the 869th day some of the girls had been held in captivity, the group in a press statement read by one of its conveners Obiageli Ezekwesili also deplored the state of displaced people in Nigeria.

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) recently staged a protest in Borno State deploring the lack of proper feeding in camps. They blocked a major highway that linked the state capital Maiduguri to Kano state in the north.

‘‘It is criminal and totally unacceptable for our IDPs to have to protest because of poor feeding at the camps,’‘ she said. They also reminded the government that it has been over two weeks since the last Boko Haram video was released.

Some of the inscriptions the protesters held read, ‘Mr President, no more delay,’ ‘Mr. President, Act Now, We Want Results’ and ‘Mr. President, Decide NOW!’

Boko Haram’s request from latest video

The latest video shows a masked Boko Haram soldier addressing parents of the abducted girls and the Nigerian government with a dozen of the girls lined up behind him.

The soldier tasks parents of the girls to pile pressure on the federal government to release ‘their brothers’ held in prisons across the country so that they would also release the girls”. One girl is allowed to address her parents and the government later in the video.

Buhari a few days ago reiterated the will of his government to negotiate the release of the girls in a prisoner swap with Boko Haram.

The spokesman also admits that some of the girls have been killed as a result of air strikes by the Nigerian Air Force, others he said had been married whiles others were sick.