Thread by @JoeWSJ

In 2017, @drewhinshaw & I entered a Nigerian cabinet minister’s office to ask why Boko Haram was ascendent. “Because we gave them millions of euros for the Chibok girls!” he said with a nervous chuckle

It was a slip of a tongue that set us on a journey

amazon.co.uk/Bring-Back-Our…

Since then we've tried to understand why it took three years to free the schoolgirls briefly championed by millions: @Pontifex, @KimKardashian, @TheRock all tweeted #BringBackOurGirls. Maybe you did, too?...

Twitter quickly moved on... But the real story had only just begun.

Those few days of tweets lit a fuse that burned for years, the forces of Silicon Valley reshaping a Nigerian war. Drones,FBI agents,mercenaries & glory hunters flew in to liberate a class of teenagers who'd become a prize in the 'war on terror'

None of them rescued a single girl

Instead, as rescue missions and hostage talks failed, the students were forced to take survival into their own hands. They came of age in captivity. Only 107 ever came home.

To keep their friendships and faith, many whispered prayers at night, or into cups of water, and softly sang gospel songs, including a hymn from Chibok: “We, the children of Israel, will not bow.” They kept secret diaries, which they smuggled into freedom.

Above their heads, the hashtag-inspired rescue mission was evolving into a multinational military intervention, filling the skies with the menacing hum of drones. The US sent the "Night Stalkers" which helped kill Bin Laden, to find the girls. America's NSA hired Kanuri speakers.

But the crew who ultimately freed the schoolgirls operated offline, on a shoestring: a small team of Swiss & Nigerian volunteers who worked for years in the shadows, risking their lives and freedom. They eschewed social media, often communicating by fax. One spent a year in jail

Reporting this story took us from northeast Nigeria to the Swiss Alps; Saharan drone bases to the White House. We met 100s who tried to #BringBackOurGirls–from Goodluck Jonathan to frontline troops, ex-Boko Haram, and officers at the CIA's Abuja station. We even spoke with @Jack

We hope the resulting book, Bring Back Our Girls, is a uniquely 21st century story: a tale of survival, the uncertain consequences of moral certainty and the unpredictable power of social media. Thank you for reading.