NY pols, #BringBackOurGirls commemorate 1-year anniversary of Boko Haram kidnapping of 270 Nigerian schoolgirls
The Empire State Building is set to be lit in red and purple Tuesday night, April 14, as part of the effort to bring attention to the 219 missing Nigerian girls who were kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists a year ago on April 14, 2014, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-North Brooklyn-Manhattan) announced today.
Maloney was joined by Dr. Mojúbàolú Olufúnké Okome and R. Evon Idahosa, Esq. of #BringBackOurGirls, an advocacy organization formed in response to the kidnapping; Minister of Counter Terrorism of the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the United Nations Lawal Mohammed Hamidu; Assemblymember Rebecca Seawright (76AD); and Survivor of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda Consolee Nishimwe, among several other leaders.
Dressed in red and purple, the official colors of #BringBackOurGirls and Stop Violence Against Women, respectively, the leaders pressed for a renewed international effort to find and return the girls to their families. Maloney also called for an investigation in response to recent reports that some of the girls may have been among those murdered in Borno State before Boko Haram soldiers were driven out by Nigerian forces.