#BringBackOurGirls Rally at City Hall Elicits Response from Local Nigerians

The #BringBackOurGirls campaign has expanded exponentially since last Tuesday, when First Lady Michelle Obama tweeted her support for the 276 young girls who three weeks ago were abducted from the Chibok Government Secondary School in northeastern Nigeria by Boko Haram, an Islamic terrorist group.

With thousands of supporters now tweeting amid international outcry about the girls’ captivity and whereabouts, the issue has picked up steam in local quarters thanks to the efforts of New York Council Member Laurie Cumbo.

At 11 a.m. today on the steps of City Hall, Ms. Cumbo will lead a rally in support of the kidnapped girls’s Nigerian families. The first term Council Member, representing New York City's 35th District, has enlisted political luminaries—including Public Advocate Letitia James, Representative Yvette D. Clarke, Representative Hakeem Jeffries, and Council Members Andy King, Inez Dickens, Julissa Ferreras, Mathieu Eugene and Karen Koslowitz—to join women's and human rights advocates in a show of solidarity.

Council Member Cumbo, whose district includes a large population of expatriate Nigerians, said in a prepared statement that: “The abduction of innocent schoolgirls in Nigeria is not solely a women’s rights issues, it is a matter that concerns all of us, as a crime against humanity.”

“We stand in solidarity as a legislative body, calling for the safe return of these young ladies, who were sent to school to create a better life for themselves and their families, not to become slaves for domestic or sexual purposes,” said Ms. Cumbo, Chair of the Council’s Committee on Women’s Issues.

Nigerians in New York City have taken notice of Ms. Cumbo’s actions to highlight what the United African Coalition—led by Sheikh Moussa Drammeh, a Bronx-based Muslim cleric—in a recent statement condemned as an act of “barbaric fundamentalism and extremism.”

“We are pleased to hear that Ms. Cumbo is joining the fight to bring back our girls,” said Shereefat Balogun, Vice President of the Nigerian Lawyers Association. “We encourage other local politicians with large Nigerian constituents to defend those individuals, defend their country and make sure that they are doing all they can to bring awareness to this issue.”

“You cannot imagine this terrible thing to be happening to our children,” said Lookman Mashood, a Nigerian who owns Buka Restaurant in Clinton Hill. “We appreciate the Council Member’s support. Hopefully the support will continue after we find them.”

“At this moment when many Nigerians abroad feel helpless, it is reassuring to see my council member speaking up loudly about an issue that concerns my homeland,” said Magnus Mukoro, who with fellow Nigerian Musa Kadiri founded Young Rock Soccer Academy, a Fort Greene-based youth soccer club.

“It is heartwarming to see the whole world rise up in defense of the abducted young Nigerian girls,” said Mike Adeniyi, a member the committee that organizes the annual Nigeria Independence Day Parade. “Injustice anywhere in the world is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Not all have embraced the #BringBackOurGirls movement.

“I have made it a point not to attend these rallies. I'm hoping those who are organizing them are genuine and not caught up in the moment of belonging to a cause or movement or looking for publicity,” said Ayodeji Babalola, a Nigerian journalist and community activist who runs Hello Africa, a non-profit that promotes independent African media to “change outmoded attitudes and views of Africa and Africans.”

On Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace suggested that “hashtag activism” was a way for people to "feel better about themselves." Conservative commentator George Will—amid laughter from his co-hosts—said that tweeting about the issue is merely “an exercise in self-esteem.”

For more information about the rally or Ms. Cumbo’s position on #BringBackOurGirls, contact Kristia M. Beaubrun, Communication Director for Council Member Laurie A. Cumbo, at KBeaubrun@council.nyc.gov