Since the terrorist group Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 teenage girls from boarding school in Chibok in Nigeria’s northeast, the capital Abuja has seen almost daily protests demanding that the government get off its chair and do something to recover the girls.  So, the government banned demonstrations in Abuja.

Abuja police commissioner Joseph Mbu said that public protests had “degenerated” and were “now posing a serious security threat”.  Mbu also claimed that the rallies could be infiltrated by “dangerous elements”.  Those rallies often target President Goodluck Jonathan personally.  Abuja police have detained protest leaders and incredulously accused them of being linked to the Islamists.

On 14 April, Boko Haram stormed the Government Secondary School in Chibok and abducted more than 200 girls, mainly Christians, and took them to the eastern border.  The leader of the Islamist group released a video showing the girls, claiming they were being converted to Islam, and threatening to sell them as brides across Nigeria’s borders.  Boko Haram is fighting to create a breakaway state in Nigeria's northeast, one based on a particularly warped interpretation of Sharia Law.