Yahoo Lifestyle Malala Yousafzai Urges Nigerian President To Act
Malala Yousafzai has met with Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathon in a bid to keep the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls firmly in the international spotlight.
The 17-year old education activist, who also met with the parents of the girls last week, said her only wish was for the safe release of the group.
"My birthday wish this year is...bring back our girls now, and alive," Malala said. "I can see those girls as my sisters... and I'm going to speak up for them until they are released. I can feel...the circumstances under which you are suffering. It's quite difficult for a parent to know that their daughter is in great danger."
Yousafzai urged Jonathon to meet with the families of the kidnapped girls in an effort to bring more light to the situation.
BBC Nigeria correspondent Tomi Oladipo said it was highly unusual the president had not spoken to the relatives three months after the abductions, adding that the military has also reportedly failed to debrief some of the girls who managed to escape from captivity.
Malala Yousafzai with Preisdent Goodluck Jonathon
The notion only serves to highlight the criticism of the Nigerian government for its handling of the situation. The country finally accepted help from the United States, Britain, France and China after Jonathon caved to international pressure.
After meeting with Malala, President Jonathan said he would meet with the parents "to personally comfort them and reassure them" that the government was doing "all within its powers to rescue their daughters".
The notion that the government has not been doing enough to find and rescue the girls was "very wrong and misplaced", the government said in a statement.
On Sunday, Boko Haram's leader Abubakar Shekau released a video mocking the "Bring Back Our Girls" social media campaign.
Underlining Boko Haram's offer for a prisoner swap, he promoted his own slogan: "Bring Back Our Army".
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