ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai is celebrating her 17th birthday in Nigeria and meeting with the parents of some 219 girls still held by Islamic extremists, and with the dozens that escaped.
She says, My birthday wish this year is Bring Back Our Girls now and alive.
The teenager who escaped a Taliban assassination attempt in 2012 is to meet President Goodluck Jonathan later Monday.
On Sunday she met in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, with parents of the kidnapped girls and some of the dozens who escaped the abduction before dawn April 15 in northeast Chibok town.
The parents and Chibok community have been begging Jonathan to negotiate with Boko Haram extremists demanding that he release scores of detained insurgents in exchange for the girls. Jonathan so far has refused.a