Only a few months ago, a worldwide wave of virtual solidarity clustered around the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. Can you still recall those celebrities’ online pleas, from Cara Delevingne to Michelle Obama? The #BringBackOurGirls hashtag activism is now twitter history. Long-forgotten. Do you know what happened to the Chibok girls? People have forgotten about them. After proving useless in helping the 276 girls abducted by the terrorist group Boko Haram, many of whom are still missing and presumed lost forever, #BringBackOurGirls was cast into oblivion as new twitter trends became hype.

Nine months on, as people are holding banners claiming “Je suis Charlie”, I ask myself: where are the hashtags and marches in solidarity for the victims of the massacre unfolding in the town of Baga, Nigeria? Why has the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack attracted such a media circus and mobilized a sea of people from all corners of the Earth in touching solidarity marches, to such an extent that it completely overshadowed the despicable events that occured in Nigeria over the past few weeks? What makes 12 tragic deaths more newsworthy than an estimated 2,000 casualties?

Reports came through of an estimated 2,000 victims, mostly women, children and the elderly who were unable to flee the village before Boko Haram militants rampaged through the north-eastern Nigerian town. Amnesty International has described the attack as the terrorist group’s “deadliest massacre” to date. And yet, where are the hashtags for these victims? And where are the hashtags for the 30,000 people estimated to have been displaced and marooned in the islands of Lake Chad, running for their lives in fear of Boko Haram’s attacks? So many Charlies… And yet who is Baga? Surely one or two of the 2,000 Baga victims had knack for drawing… However, Baga is so far away, is it not?

And let us not forget the 10-year-old girl unwittingly used as a human bomb by Boko Haram, killing 20 people at a market in Maiduguri, Nigeria. The lack of media coverage of these deplorable acts should make us think: why were recent events in Nigeria almost ignored? Can it be that African lives are still deemed less valuable than western lives in the 21st century?

It is important to note that there was little coverage of these attacks both on the part of the Western and African world. Indeed, the palpable silence of African leaders and, in particular, of Nigeria’s political elite following the attacks culminated with Nigeria’s president Goodluck Jonathan expressing his condolences for the Charlie Hebdo victims and keeping silent regarding the issue of the Baga attacks.

So, at the end of the day, what should we take from all of this? Undoubtedly, social media is a powerful tool to harness power and solidarity across the globe. One need not look further than the recent Paris unity march in homage to the Charlie Hebdo victims. However, it is a double-edged sword: social media’s fast-paced nature and intensity highlight the fleeting fragility of its power, and the potential it has to turn grave incidents into slogans. And just like fashion trends, these come and go in the blink of an eye. As a result, we are too busy concentrating on one tragic incident distorted into a trendy slogan to pay attention to all the other suffering in the world.

And yet, Boko Haram is real, and it is posing a threat. Primarily targeting Nigeria, given that the country is Africa’s largest economy, democracy and producer of crude oil, Boko Haram is imperiling the stability and economy of the region. Needless to say, the violent nature and human cost of the attacks are appalling in themselves. Moreover, Baga was an important strategic step for the Islamist insurgent group as it now effectively controls the north-eastern Borno state in its entirety, close to the borders with Nigeria’s neighbouring countries. As Simon Allison puts it, “These aren’t just terrorists: they are becoming a de facto state.”

In one month, Nigeria will hold what could be described as the most competitive and contentious election it has ever witnessed. These will take place in the shadow of the big elephant in the room – the rising threat of Boko Haram operating with apparent impunity.

“Je suis Charlie, n’oublions pas les victimes de Boko Haram,” reads one banner in the Paris solidarity march. And yet, we do forget. Just like we forgot about the Chibok schoolgirls. In a faraway land, that isn’t a mere hour journey away, kidnapped girls and terrorists seem to easily slip our minds. Indeed, the crux of the matter lays in the fact that hashtag activism is restricted to a certain audience, to those who have ready access to the social networks on their tablets and smartphones. This is true in France in the case of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, and it is true in the United Sates when protests broke out regarding the death of Eric Garner. But when it comes to the the Chibok schoolgirls, hashtag activism not only has proven useless but worse, it perverts the issue to the extent that it becomes a social media fad.

Too busy checking out the latest twitter craze, we should blame ourselves for our amnesia and blindness. Despite our inability to stop Boko Haram from the comfort of our homes, we have a moral duty to make sure that the Chibok schoolgirls, the 10-year-old used to detonate a bomb and the Baga people are not forgotten, just as the Charlie Hebdo victims won’t be.