Almeida, Pichardo, Costa to take part in State House rally for rescue of kidnapped Nigerian girls

STATE HOUSE – Rep. Joseph S. Almeida (D-Dist. 12, Providence), Sen. Juan M. Pichardo (D-Dist. 2, Providence) and Rep. Doreen Costa (R-Dist. 31, North Kingstown, Exeter) will take part in a State House rally planned tomorrow to urge the rescue and return of the more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped and still being held by the terrorist group Boko Haram.

The rally is scheduled to start tomorrow, Friday, May 9, at 5 p.m., outside on the southern side of the State House (facing the Providence Place mall) and is organized by the Nigerian Community of Rhode Island with the Rhode Island Young Professionals and Take 5 with Reza Rites.

Also scheduled to attend are Providence Mayor Angel Taveras, Providence City Council President Michael A. Solomon and former treasurer Frank Caprio.

The rally is meant to urge the rescue and release of the girls, who were kidnapped from their school in Chibok, a remote northeastern town in Nigeria, on April 15 by fighters from Boko Haram, a militant Islamist Nigerian group whose name means “Western education is sinful.” Some of the more than 300 kidnapped girls escaped, but the number still missing has varied in reports as being at least 223 and as many as 276. The leader of the group has referred to the teenage girls as “slaves” and has threatened to sell them into forced marriages or the sex trade.

​​​​​-30-​ ​

Printer Friendly View

For more information, contact:
Legislative Press Bureau,
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-2457

LIKE THIS PAGE? SHARE IT WITH OTHERS