One year later - Over 200 kidnapped schoolgirls still missing in Nigeria

Ceremonies are to be staged around the world to mark one year since more than 200 girls were abducted by Nigerian militant Islamist group Boko Haram.

A procession is being held in the capital, Abuja, with 219 girls taking part to represent each missing girl.

The abduction of the girls in Chibok in north-eastern Nigeria sparked global outrage, with nations such as the US and China promising to help find them.

There have been sightings of the girls reported, but none has been found.

Boko Haram say the girls have converted to Islam and been married off. One witness told the BBC that she saw more than 50 of them alive three weeks ago in the north-eastern town of Gwoza.

t has been a whole year of agony for the relatives of the missing 219 Chibok girls. There have been a few sightings of some of the abducted students but very little official information from a government that has long promised to rescue them from the clutches of Boko Haram.

One mother told the BBC she sometimes arranges her 19-year-old daughter's clothes in the hope that she is about to return home.

The scale of this conflict is so grim that the Chibok girls represent just a fraction of those seized by the jihadists. Many have escaped partly thanks to a recent military offensive - but not the Chibok girls.

High-profile figures such as Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai and US First Lady Michelle Obama were among those who drew attention to their plight on Twitter last year under the #BringBackOurGirls hashtag.

Since then, the activists who began that campaign have spoken of relatives' anguish at still not knowing what happened to the girls, and have criticised the Nigerian government of outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan for not doing enough to find them.

"Our president has said the girls are alive. Our question is: 'Where are our girls?'" Aisha Yesufu, a spokeswoman for the group, told the BBC.

Mr Jonathan told the BBC's Newsday that political rivalries had hampered the federal government's ability to grasp the scale of the Chibok attack and respond to it, as the government of Borno state, a Boko Haram stronghold, was run by an opposition party.

Nigeria's incoming president, Muhammadu Buhari, said his government would "do everything in its power to bring them home" but said he "cannot promise that we can find them".

The six-year Boko Haram insurgency in the north has left thousands dead.

Amnesty International say the militants have abducted 2,000 girls and women since the start of last year, using them as cooks, sex slaves and fighters.

BBC

Video - Nigerian army retakes northern towns from Boko Haram

As Nigeria goes to the polls again, there are still some concerns about the Boko Haram insurgency. While latest reports indicate that the country's military backed by regional troops have ousted Boko Haram fighters from all major towns and forest camps in most of northern Nigeria, there is still evidence that the militants have the power to carry out brutal attacks on civilians.

APC defeats PDP in state polls

 The party of Nigeria's incoming president has won a landslide in elections for powerful state governors, ending the former ruling party's dominance.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) won 19 of the 29 governor posts in Saturday's elections.

It is the biggest defeat for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) since military ruled ended in 1999.

It lost the presidential poll last month for the first time.

APC leader Muhammadu Buhari will be inaugurated on 29 May, after he defeated President Goodluck Jonathan.

The PDP's decline has been reinforced by results from Saturday's elections for governors and state assemblies, reports the BBC's Bashir Saad Abdullahi from the capital, Abuja.

The party lost for the first time key northern states like Kaduna and Katsina. However, it managed to hold on to Rivers State, Nigeria' s oil hub.

The PDP won nine governorships, while the election in Imo state was declared inconclusive, because the number of spoilt ballot papers was larger than the margin of victory.

Elections were not held in seven states.

Nigeria's 36 governors enjoy wide powers and are extremely influential. Some, especially in oil-producing areas, control bigger budgets than those of national governments in some neighbouring West African countries.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) reported 66 violent incidents at polling stations - higher than in the presidential poll.

Most of the violence took place in Rivers and other southern states, where voting at some polling stations had to be extended.

On Sunday, Inec also announced that the APC had retained power in Lagos state.

It means that when Gen Buhari takes over the presidency it will be the first time that the party of the president has controlled Lagos - the commercial capital - since the advent of multi-party democracy in 1999.

Our correspondent says the PDP will have to go through a period of introspection, and then rebuild itself under a new leader.

The party was in power for 16 years, and voters felt that it was time for change, he says.

It had been hit by the defection of governors and MPs to the APC ahead of the elections.

The PDP also faced widespread allegations of corruption during its rule, and was accused of failing to enough to end an Islamist-led insurgency in the north-east where it suffered huge defeats.


BBC

Video - Vice News covers the fight against Boko Haram

Since 2009, the militant Islamist group known as Boko Haram has wreaked havoc in northern Nigeria. Instilling terror through bombings, abductions, and beheadings, Boko Haram is fighting to create an Islamic state in the most populous country in Africa.

VICE News traveled to Nigeria to embed with the country's army as it ramped up its fight against Boko Haram, whose rise has caused a state of emergency. As the only journalists on the front line in northern Nigeria, we witnessed the beginning of the largest military insurgency to date.

In part one of a three-part series, VICE News correspondent Kaj Larsen visits the site of a recent Boko Haram attack, interviews refugees and victims of the militant group, and heads to the front lines of the ongoing conflict.

Nigeria's FIFA world ranking drops

Nigeria has dropped from the 41st position to 45th in world football ranking, the April FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking released on Thursday has shown.

This plunge is as a result of the country's team performance in two recent friendly matches played against Uganda and South Africa.

The Super Eagles lost 0-1 to Uganda in Uyo and drew 1-1with South Africa in Nelspruit.

Algeria also dropped from 18th to 21st position, while African champions Cote D'Ivoire plunged from 20 to 23, and Ghana dropped two places to 26.

Tunisia dropped five places to 30th position in the ranking.

Other African teams ranked higher than Nigeria are Senegal (36), Cape Verde Islands (37) and Guinea (41).

The top 10 African countries are Algeria, Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Tunisia, Senegal, Cape Verde Islands, Guinea, Nigeria, Cameroon and Congo.

In the ranking, Belgium achieved its highest-ever position in FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking.

Belgium is third in world ranking following two wins in qualifying matches for UEFA EURO 2016.

Belgium is now placed third in the ranking, behind the unchanged leading duo of Germany and Argentina.

Brazil moves up from sixth position to fifth and the Netherlands is occupying sixth position from fifth.

Switzerland is up three positions to 9th and Spain is up one position to 10th.

France and Italy are 11th and 13th, down three steps respectively, while Wales is up 15 positions to 22nd, and Belarus 15 positions from 83rd.

Iraq is now 86th, Azerbaijan 115th, Syria 126th, India 147th, Nicaragua 154th, Gambia 156th and the Cayman Islands 191st.

Most of these teams were victorious in one or more qualifying matches in recent weeks.

Bhutan, who beat Sri Lanka twice in the Asian qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, is now ranked 163rd in the world.

In addition to Belgium and Bhutan, Wales, the Faroe Islands (102nd, up 3) and Timor-Leste have all achieved their highest-ever position since the ranking was introduced in 1993.

A total of 135 international "A" matches have been taken into account for the latest edition of the ranking, while the total number of matches evaluated is 217.

Of the new matches, 25 were qualifiers for EURO 2016, 26 for 2018 World Cup qualifiers (in CONCACAF and AFC) and 84 were friendlies.

Vanguard