On the night of 14 April 2014, Boko Haram fighters in pick-up trucks attacked Government Secondary School Chibok, Borno State, and abducted 276 girls sitting their West African Senior School Certificate Examinations. 57 escaped on the journey out by jumping from the trucks. The Jonathan administration's initial response was denial; for weeks, government officials disputed the abduction had occurred.
The Twitter hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, launched on 23 April 2014 by Lagos lawyer Ibrahim Abdullahi, became the most viral political campaign in Nigerian history — amplified by Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, the Pope, David Cameron, and global media. Daily sit-outs at the Unity Fountain in Abuja, led by Dr Oby Ezekwesili, continued through 2014 and into the Buhari administration.
Releases (the Swiss government and the ICRC mediating): 21 girls released October 2016; 82 released May 2017; ~107 girls in the school's roll have either been released, escaped, rescued or found by 2024. The fate of the remaining 90+ is unknown; several have appeared in Boko Haram propaganda videos as 'married' to fighters.
The abduction was a political turning point: Jonathan's perceived inertia became central to Buhari's 2015 campaign messaging, and the insurgency that had been a peripheral Northeastern problem became a national identity issue.