The attack of Boko Haram on Government Girls Science and Technical College Dapchi in Yobe state, where several students have gone missing, has created anxiety in the country as government and security agencies give conflicting figures. In addition, there is confusion as to whether or not the students were abducted by the insurgents, as MUSA UMAR BOLOGI, MUSA BUBA, TAIYE ODEWALE, EMEKA NZE, ABDULRAHMAN ZAKARIYAU and BODE OLAGOKE report.
The attack happened last Monday but details were still sketchy as at Thursday. In their hundreds, Boko Haram insurgents had attacked Government Girls Science and Technical Secondary School, Dapchi, a town in Bursari local government area of Yobe state and some students were missing last Monday.
The insurgents, according to reports, had invaded the town around 7pm with over 18 gun trucks, shooting sporadically at anything in sight. Afterwards, they headed to the school where about 740 girls were resident.
However, the sound from the sect’s militants explosives and gunshots had alerted the students. According to reports, the students and their teachers scampered into nearby bushes for safety.
Later, Nigerian security forces backed by military jets arrived Dapchi and “chased away” the terrorists who had continued on a looting spree. Thereafter, the school authorities conducted a head count on Tuesday and discovered that at least 94 of the girls were still missing.
The school was immediately closed down and the education authorities as well as security forces began efforts to locate the missing students. Since then, the situation has ben at best foggy as the government and security agencies give conflicting accounts of what happened and the number of missing students.
Eye witness accounts
At Dapchi, several people gave accounts of what transpired on that fateful day when the insurgents attacked the town. Maduga Lawan, a parent of one of the students, told Blueprint Weekend that ‘’when we heard sporadic gunshots, I saw my daughter who is schooling at GGSTC Dapchi coming and crying.’’
According to Maduga, his daughter told him “my sister is gone they have taken her away”. He told our correspondent that he has not seen his missing daughter since Monday. Babagana Kachalla, a guardian to one of the missing students, was at the school premises when our reporter visited the town.
He narrated that “two of my daughters are missing that is why I have come whether there is news of their whereabouts”. In tears, Badumi A. Mustapha, said that he lost three daughters, the only children he has, to the insurgents. He told Blueprint Weekend that ‘’I feel like dying”. Hafsat Baduga, a student who escaped through the fence said, “the insurgents came in army uniforms but were wearing open shoes. They asked us to enter their Hilux vans so that they can assist us, that Boko Haram are in the town but I refused and ran away. I don’t know whether my sister joined them”. Another source who does not want his name in a print, narrated that they heard some students screaming for help after the insurgents were retreating with their vehicles.
Missing or abduction?
There is confusion about whether the students have gone missing or were abducted by the insurgents. According to reports, Boko Haram actually whisked some of the girls away as while some insurgents raided the store where food stuff were kept, others disguised as soldiers and laid siege outside the school’s perimeter fence.
These Boko Haram elements, according to reports, simply loaded some of the students who managed to escape into a truck and zoomed off with them.
Specifically, a newspaper reported that Hajja Halima Karam, one of the abducted students fell off a Toyota pickup van where they were crammed into and escaped to safety.
However, official sources keep reiterating that no student was abducted as the missing students simply disappeared into the bush to escape from the insurgents. In fact, Yobe state commissioner of Police, Mr Sumonu Abdullmaliki insisted that there was no abduction and that no life was lost during the attack. Addressing the press on Wednesday, Abdullmaliki said that 111 girls were still missing and that “815 out of the 926 students were physically seen in the school as at Tuesday.
There are reports that more girls have returned to the school after the head count.’’ Abdulmaliki further said that he is aware of the rumours going on that the students were abducted. He however said that the principal had confirmed to him that no student was taken away by the insurgents.
Conflicting figures
Significantly, another source of confusion in the whole saga is the number of missing students, especially between government and police.
Last Wednesday, the police said only 30 out of the total 906 students at the school could not be located, while Yobe government said 50 girls were still missing. Although the state Police chief said he had gone to the school on assessment, the Yobe state government did not disclosed how it came about its figure. Similarly, another area of conflict was in the number of students present in the school at the time the terrorists struck. According to the Police, 906 student were in the school as at the time of the incident, while the state government claimed there were 926 students.
Yobe govt recants claim
Around 10 pm on Wednesday, Yobe state government claimed that some of the school girls have been rescued by gallant officers and men of the Nigerian Army from the terrorists who abducted them.
According to a statement signed by Malam Abdullahi Bego, the Director-General Press Affairs to Governor Ibrahim Gaidam, the rescued girls were in the custody of the Nigerian Army. Bego who expressed the governor’s gratitude to the Nigerian army, promised that details about their number and condition will be made in due course.
However, a day after Bego’s statement, the Defence Headquarters said that it has no such information. Brigadier-General John Agim, the Defence spokesman, said that the military cannot confirm whether or not some of the students have been rescued. However, on Thursday, Bego recanted his earlier statement, offered apologies and gave clarifications.
According to him, the information that government had relied on to make the earlier claim is not credible. The Director General offered said that the information was provided by one of the security agencies that is involved in the fight against Boko Haram.
Bego said that Governor Gaidam was in Dapchi where he met with community leaders and the Principal and staff of the Girls’ College. The governor also addressed parents of some the school girls that are still unaccounted for, where he told them to pray and exercise patience as the government and security agencies will continue to address the unfortunate situation.
The statement further said that the governor has also directed officials of ministry of education and the school administration to work closely with the security agencies to establish the actual number of the missing girls. In addition, they should contact parents and the community for possible information that could be useful of the investigation.
Ezekwesili, PDP carpet FG
Former Minister of Education and co – convener of Bring Back Our Girls Movement, Ms Oby Ezekwesili had earlier condemned the silence of the Nigerian Army and the government in a series of tweets.
Last Wednesday, the ex minister wondered if the Buhari administration did not learn anything from the incident of the abducted Chibok girls.
Similarly, the national chairman of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus asked President Buhari and APC to ‘’bring back our girls.’’
According to him, the security situation of this country has become a nightmare as killer herdsmen are competing with Boko Haram and kidnappers on who would inflict most pain on hapless Nigerians. On his part, the National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan said that ‘’PDP is monitoring development on the position of the Nigeria Police investigation of the matter.
We however charge the Inspector General of Police to immediately put all machinery in place to unravel this disturbing situation and recover the missing children. We challenge the All Progressives Congress (APC)-controlled federal government to live up to its basic responsibility of protecting lives and property in our country.’’
APC’s defeat imminent–ADP
In addition, Action Democratic Party (ADP) has predicted that the missing girls saga marks the countdown to the end of the APC- led administration because this is how the Jonathan government’s defeat started. The party’s national chairman, Engr. Yabaji Sani, who described the APC as a “rag-tag’ organisation which sold only images to Nigerians during the 2015 general elections, said the Nigerians will vote against it in the coming election.
He said that in addition to insecurity, there is an ‘’unprecedented level of hanger which this government has visited on Nigerians.’’
According to Engr Sani, what is happening in the country “is not surprising because this is a government that lacks capacity, vision, organization and credibility. When a government does not have all these certainly they cannot deliver on their mandate and the tragedy was that when APC was campaigning they sold to Nigerians images and personalities. ‘’
The national chairman said that APC has no programme that Nigerians can hold them to. ‘’It was only change, change they were talking about. Change for what? So, we are now in a situation where is like from fry pan to fire. Look at the economic indices, poverty is at the highest level, so endemic all over the place. Insecurity in so high, kidnapping is everywhere and government is at the lowest level,’’ he added.
FG hasn’t learnt from Chibok girls–Senate
Senate wondered why the Chibok girls abduction in 2014 by the same insurgents has not served as needed lesson for the federal governmentto secure schools in the north east generally. In a motion sponsored by Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim ( APC Yobe East), through orders 42 and 52 of the standing rules, the lawmaker decried the uncertainty of the situation.
According to him, ‘’nobody can categorically say or conclude now that the still missing 46 students of the school were abducted by the attackers or still trapped where they ran to, but the problem of such attacks need to be critically looked into, to save the lives of school children generally and sustain their interest in education .
Contributing to the motion, Senator Ahmad Lawan ( APC Yobe North), the Senate Leader, wondered what has happened to the ‘Save the school project’’ that was put in place in the Boko Haram prone areas of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states after the Chibok girls experience . According to him, “ while the Yobe state government has spent over N16 billion on protection of schools, the federal government, based on statistics on ground, is not doing the needful”.
However, another Senator from the state , Senator Mohammed Hassan ( PDP Yobe South), disagreed that the state government has done much on schools security. He said that the state government, through the Education Ministry , has not been forthcoming with required information .
In his own contribution, Senator Joshua Lidani ( PDP Gombe South), said such attacks shouldn’t have taken relevant authorities unawares, more so with the very sad Chibok girls experience in 2014. “ The unfortunate thing is that rather than the government, through the various security agencies, rising up to the challenge over the years, schools in the area are still very vulnerable to attacks with attendant abduction of pupils especially girls,’’ he pointed out . According to Lidani, government should ‘’devise means of proactively repelling such attacks glaringly being used by the insurgents for negotiation purposes, as seen with the Chibok girls, the abducted lecturers from University of Maiduguri, Police officers wives etc “ .
In his remarks , the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu who presided over the session, said the repeated incidences make stronger case for different levels of policing in the country .”The clear message from all these embarrassing incidences is that our security architecture is failing on the face of the security challenges at hand, hence the need for another level of policing in form of state police”, he said .
Atiku rallies support
Former Vice President and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, appealed for support to the victims’ families and security agents. In a tweet last Thursday, the Wazirin Adamawa said “my heart and prayers are with the #DapchiGirls who are missing and their families.
Let’s give our unconditional support to them and to the agencies and security forces who are working to find them. There is nothing that should unify us more than the safe return of these children.”
FG dispatches ministers to Dapchi
Last Wednesday, President Buhari directed the military and other security agencies to immediately take charge of Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi. Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to the minister, Buhari also directed him and Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama to go to Yobe state on a fact-finding assignment. He promised disclose any information as soon they get it, regarding the missing students.
Parents weep, youths protest in Dapchi
However, in spite of assurances, parents and guardians broke into tears when Governor Gaidam visited them without any concrete information about their missing school children. In fact, the governor’s assurance that they are still searching for the missing girls irked the youth rather console them.
According to reports, they set up barricades and burnt tyres in the streets as well as hurled missiles at the governor’s convoy, smashing some windscreens in the process. They accused the military and Yobe State government of telling lies about the rescue operation.
Earlier, youths, women and parents of the abducted schoolgirls had embarked on peaceful demonstration before the arrival of the governor. The governor, addressing the parents at the District Head’s palace, urged them to remain faithful as security operatives were still searching for the girls. According to him, “soldiers have been pursuing the insurgents, although they receive information that the Boko Haram insurgents had passed some areas, but the communities in the areas said they did not spot the girls along with the insurgents.’’
Education suffers set back
Before the last attack, Yobe had enjoyed relative peace as against the recent past, especially between 2012 and 2014, when the Boko Haram insurgency was at its peak. The insurgents, within that period, had attacked College of Agriculture Gujba, Government Secondary Schools Damaturu and Federal Government College Buni-yadi. At the latter, about 29 students were killed during the Jonathan administration. The spate of attacks led to the relocation of some of the schools to the state capital, while others have remained closed down till today.
However, the Gaidam administration had reconstructed almost all the schools that were burnt down by the insurgents, from primary to tertiary institutions. In addition, the government had provided security to all boarding schools until recently.
As the situation improved, the security was withdrawn and apparently, the insurgents exploited this loophole to attack Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi. No doubt, this attack will impede the giant strides that the Gaidam administration has recorded in the education sector.
