Akeem Lasisi Urges Intensified Search for Remaining Chibok Girls in New Video Tribute
Akeem Lasisi Urges Intensified Search for Remaining Chibok Girls in New Video Tribute
Performance poet and journalist Akeem Lasisi has urged the Federal Government and relevant stakeholders to ramp up efforts to locate the remaining Chibok Girls still held captive by Boko Haram.
This appeal is featured in his newly released video for “Ẹyẹ Ìgbò: For Chibok Girls,” a track from his upcoming album, “Òrèrè: A Gift of Poems,” set to launch in 2024.
The Chibok Girls, who were kidnapped from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, on April 14, 2014, mark a grim milestone as this year marks the 11th anniversary of their abduction, which involved 276 girls in total. Since that time, Nigeria has seen three presidents: Goodluck Jonathan, Muhammadu Buhari, and current president Bola Tinubu. While various administrations have attempted to tackle the crisis through military action and diplomacy, only 128 of the abducted girls have been rescued, leaving 91 still unaccounted for.
In “Ẹyẹ Ìgbò: For Chibok Girls,” Lasisi expresses his sorrow over those who remain in captivity and extends sympathy to their families enduring the ongoing anguish of their absence.
The video, available on Akeem Lasisi and the Songbirds’ YouTube channel, features a heart-wrenching scene in which a mother and her neighbors engage in a prayer session for her abducted daughter. Meanwhile, Lasisi is depicted leading a civilian joint task force into the depths of the Sambisa Forest in search of the captives. The emotional fusion of the mournful “ẹyẹ igbo” chant, drawn from Yoruba folklore, and Lasisi’s poignant poetry vividly conveys the relentless hope and despair felt by the victims’ families and concerned advocates. Commenting on the track during last year’s album announcement, Lasisi stated, “I still feel pain like many others. To truly grasp what the remaining abductees and their families endure, one must envision this tragedy striking their own lives. Just imagine having your daughter or son— or both— held captive by terrorists in an unknown forest, not just for a month or a year, but for ten long years. It is an unimaginable agony.”
