YOBE STATE UNDER ATTACK IN 30 MINUTES:
Boko Haram Invades Government Girls Technical College to Harass, RAPE, Abduct 100 Teenage students in Dapchi village…President BUHARI orders Investigation, Assures Families of abductees that kidnapped girls will be brought back alive
*Militants wear full military attires, wield machine-gun mounted trucks, opened fire on school
* Other lucky students and teachers flee, climbing fences to escape
* ‘More than 50 students still missing’-Yobe state government officials
* ‘I saw the Militants. They arrived about 5:30 p.m. in the village. The school girls were in dorms and I was in my dorm when we heard gunshots and screaming. I counted nine of their vehicles — two were land cruisers with machine guns on top — filled with fighters in military uniforms’-Mohammed Bilal, an Islamic studies teacher at the school
* “The entire country stands as one with the girls’ families, the government and the people of Yobe State. This is a national disaster. We are sorry that this could have happened and share your pain. Our gallant armed forces will locate and safely return your missing family members”-President BUHARI
BY NURENI MUMMINU/CRIME REPORTER, YOBE STATE
IT WAS LIKE A WAR ZONE-Confusion, gunshots, pandemonium, apprehension, fear everywhere, as there was enough anxiety to show that the sudden arrival of fully armed Islamic militants, Boko Haram means ‘evil’ for the restive community of Dapchi village community in Yobe state. 100 teenage students of Government Girls Technical College were intimidated, harassed, raped and abducted at about 5:30pm to 6:00pm without a single appearance of Nigeria’s security operatives to counter them.
There were tears, cries, sobbing and shouting, yet no one seems to come to the innocent girls’ rescue who were forcefully taken away into the bush from their once peaceful hostel.
Confirming this shocking news, an eye witness of the sad incidence, Mohammed Bilal, an Islamic studies teacher at the school, reportedly said the militants arrived about 5:30 p.m. in the village in nine vehicles — two were land cruisers with machine guns on top — filled with fighters in military uniforms. He had to run away with several students and colleagues, he said, but 30 minutes later returned to gather other students to help them flee.
His words: “The girls were in dorms and I was in my dorm when we heard gunshots and screaming. I did not see where they were coming from as there was thick smoke of gas in the air. I had counted nine vehicles in the Boko Haram’s convoy — two were land cruisers with machine guns on top — filled with fighters in military uniforms. I had to run away with several students and colleagues, only to return 30 minutes later to gather hundreds of these innocent girls had been raped, harassed and abducted to unknown hideouts. At a time, lucky students and teachers had to flee, while some climbed the fences to escape.”
Yobe state government officials confirmed that over over 50 students were still missing. The local police gave conflicting information to reporters, saying about 100 girls were gone. Late Wednesday, other media outlets reported that the girls had been rescued, which could not be verified.
It was gathered that during the attack, groups of students ran into the bush and other villages and some headed for their homes on farms far from Dapchi. A few students and residents have told local reporters that some girls were spotted being hauled away by the militants.
Government officials in Yobe State, where Dapchi is, said on Wednesday that they had no credible information that the girls had been taken hostage. They were continuing to receive unconfirmed reports that some girls had been found safe.
The Yobe state government press statement reads: “His Excellency, Governor Ibrahim Gaidam is deeply saddened and outraged by the unfortunate event and has directed that all relevant personnel and agencies work closely with the army and other security organizations.”
Later in the day, President Muhammadu Buhari released his own statement, saying on Twitter that he had directed the military and the police to mobilize to find the missing girls. He said the defense minister would also lead a delegation to Yobe State on Thursday to “ascertain the situation.”
Buhari in a press statement issued by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media and Publicity) states: “President Muhammadu Buhari has assured the families of students reportedly abducted from the Government Girls Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, that no effort will be spared to bring succor to them.
According to the President, “When I received the devastating news of the attack on the school and the fact that the local authorities could not account for all the students, I immediately dispatched a high-level delegation on a fact-finding visit to the town. I also instructed the security agencies to deploy in full and not spare any effort to ensure that all the girls are returned safely, and the attackers arrested and made to face justice.
“The entire country stands as one with the girls’ families, the government and the people of Yobe State. This is a national disaster. We are sorry that this could have happened and share your pain. We pray that our gallant armed forces will locate and safely return your missing family members.
“Our government is sending more troops and surveillance aircraft to keep an eye on all movements in the entire territory on a 24-hour basis, in the hope that all the missing girls will be found.”
Meanwhile, Bilal ensured that he and few others were able to help about 300 girls climb over the fence around the school’s perimeter. One teacher’s wife miscarried during the attack, and the teacher broke his leg trying to flees, “Parents had been arriving at the school looking for their daughters. It is an awful situation.”
Adding to the confusion was the difficulty reaching some families to confirm that their daughters had turned up at home; some live in areas with poor phone networks. The school has closed for the week to assess the situation.
The statement on Wednesday from the Yobe government, more than two days after the attack, was the first time officials remarked publicly about the incident.
The long silence stoked fears, largely because it echoed a similar lack of communication in the days following what turned out to be the abduction of nearly 300 girls from a secondary school in the village of Chibok, in an adjacent state, in April 2014.
That kidnapping spurred a global social media campaign, #BringBackOurGirls. About 100 of those students are still being held hostage. Dozens of schoolboys have been kidnapped or burned alive.
Last year government officials negotiated for the release of about half of the missing students from the Chibok kidnapping. Several others escaped. And this month, officials secured the release of a group of police officers and university professors who were kidnapped by Boko Haram last year.
Several high-level Boko Haram commanders were also released last year as part of a prisoner swap in exchange for hostages, and millions of dollars was paid to militants as ransom.
As at press time, it still remain the exact location of these defenseless and innocent teenage girls remain unknown.
#Additional Reports by New York Times
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/21/africa/boko-haram-schoolgirls-missing-raid/index.html
