Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

On the night of 14–15 April 2014, members of the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram attacked the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, a majority-Christian town. The school had been closed for four weeks due to deteriorating security but had reopened temporarily so students could sit final physics exams. Militants dressed in military uniforms overwhelmed roughly 15 soldiers stationed in the town, engaging in a raid that lasted about five hours and killed a soldier and a police officer. Some 276 girls, aged 16 to 18, were taken; 57 escaped almost immediately by jumping from the trucks transporting them. Amnesty International later stated it believed the Nigerian military had received four hours' advance warning of the attack but failed to send reinforcements; the Nigerian military confirmed the advance notice but said overstretched forces could not mobilize in time.

In the aftermath, the girls — overwhelmingly Christian — were reportedly forced to convert to Islam and married to Boko Haram members. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau publicly claimed responsibility in a video on 5 May 2014, saying the girls would be treated as property and offering a possible prisoner exchange. Sightings placed captives in the Sambisa Forest and reportedly across the borders into Cameroon and Chad, though Borno's governor disputed border crossings. Search and rescue involved Nigerian vigilante groups, the Nigerian military, and international assistance offered by the United States, United Kingdom, France, Israel, Canada and China, including surveillance aircraft and intelligence teams. A British source later said the girls were located by Royal Air Force surveillance within weeks of the operation but that Nigeria declined an offered rescue, treating it as a national matter.

Over subsequent years, girls were freed in stages: some escaped independently, some were rescued during Nigerian military operations against Boko Haram camps, and larger groups — 21 in October 2016 and 82 in May 2017 — were released following negotiations brokered by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Swiss government, reportedly involving ransom payments and the exchange of detained Boko Haram commanders. Individual girls continued to be found or to escape in subsequent years, including through 2024. By 14 April 2021, over 100 girls remained missing; by 14 April 2024, ten years after the abduction, 82 were reported still missing and presumed held.

The kidnapping catalyzed the international #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign, which began after a Nigerian lawyer used the hashtag following remarks by former education minister Oby Ezekwesili, and drew support from figures including Malala Yousafzai, Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton, alongside criticism from some commentators who questioned its practical impact. The Nigerian government faced sustained criticism over its response, including its handling of information, delayed public acknowledgment by then-President Goodluck Jonathan, and a $1.2 million public-relations contract. In July 2018, Nigerian police charged eight Boko Haram fighters in connection with the kidnapping, with one convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Boko Haram's broader campaign involved abduction of thousands of women and girls, according to Amnesty International estimates, and the group later became known for a rise in the use of female suicide bombers, a shift researchers have linked partly to attention generated by the Chibok case.