Broadway show 'Eclipsed' honours missing 'Chibok girls'

The broadway show ‘Eclipsed’ was dedicated to Nigeria’s missing Chibok girls on Saturday by award winning actress Lupita Nyongo and U2’s front man Bono.

During the performance in New York about several women trapped in Liberia during the Civil War, the two celebrities remembered the 219 missing schoolgirls who were abducted by Nigeria’s Islamist group Boko Haram over two years ago.

“In our story, ‘Eclipsed,’ we witness the power of naming, the power of naming your pain, naming your joy, naming yourself. The simple act of declaring a name can make a public issue very personal,” said Nyong’o.

Eclipsed dedicates each performance to the Chibok school girls in Northern Nigeria & all abducted girls around the world. #BringBackOurGirls

— Danai Gurira (@DanaiGurira) April 30, 2016

“From here on out, each performance will be dedicated to specific girls from around the world who have been kidnapped and are still missing. We speak their names, we will know their names. Today in particular, we remember the school girls from northern Nigeria, who were abducted by Boko Haram in 2014 and are still missing,” she added.

Bono emphasized to the audience the need not to forget the missing girls.

Special guest #Bono joins us to remember the abducted Chibok schoolgirls. WATCH: https://t.co/sx13OFt1dF #BringBackOurGirls #KnowHerName

— Eclipsed on Broadway (@eclipsedbway) May 2, 2016

“The cast wants us to think about two girls in particular, Lydia Habila and Rejoice Musa. They were taken from their high school in Chibok in northern Nigeria. They’re gone 747 days today. There were many taken as you probably read about,” he said.

On 14th April 2014, about 270 school girls in the North-eastern part of Nigeria were abducted but only 50 managed to escape. The abduction caused international outcry as the whereabouts of the girls still remain unknown.

Meanwhile, actress Lupita Nyongo has been nominated for the 2016 Tony Award for “Best Actress role” in the story ‘Eclipsed.’

Deeply proud of EclipsedBway's six #TonyAwards nominations! pic.twitter.com/bfhag9JJ5C

— Lupita Nyong'o (Lupita_Nyongo) May 3, 2016

Former President Goodluck Jonathan was criticised for his slow reaction to the Chibok kidnappings. This prompted President Muhammadu Buhari to launch fresh investigations into the abductions in January.

In March, a young girl and a lady arrested in Cameroon near a border with Nigeria were thought to be part of the missing girls after one of them claimed to be a Chibok girl.

Upon further investigation it was determined that they were not part of the missing Nigerian school girls.

Boko Haram has carried out a spate of suicide bombings in Nigeria and its neighbouring countries frequently using girls.