“I forced her to go back to school against her wish, unknown to me that this calamity is awaiting her here,” Amina Usama, a mother of an abducted student in Yobe State, bellowed and sobbed uncontrollably.
Usama could not trace her daughter who is one of the 94 students in Government Girls Secondary School, Dapchi, in Burasari local government area of Yobe state abducted by suspected Boko Haram terrorists on Monday, February 19.
She cannot forgive herself at the turn of event, saying, ”My daughter always complained that there was no security in the school.”
Another parent, Lamuwa Yadi, said he has two daughters in the school but could only find one of them.
“We have no idea where she’s now, her sister said they were at the hall when the insurgents struck, and it was the last time she saw her. We are calling on the state and the federal governments to act fast before it gets worst,” Yadi said.
Reacting to the situation, Lawan Ali, the state commissioner of education, said senior officials from the ministry had been dispatched to the school.
“The team is profiling the students to know those who are missing? And, how many of them were able to return or ran home to their families,” he said.
Also, Abdumaliki Sunmonu, the commissioner of police in Yobe state, said no case of abduction had been established yet.
A source in the school quoted in the report said the number of missing students was established in the afternoon after a head count. “After the roll call, 610 out the total number of 704 students have returned. We are still searching for the remaining 94 students,” he said.
Asked whether the students were abducted, he said: “We cannot say, because the insurgents went into the students’ hostel, and many of these students scaled the fence and escaped into the bushes. No one can tell if they are abducted or not.”
He said some parents had reported to the school authorities that their children, who fled into the bushes, had returned home safely. 94 girls still missing after Boko Haram attack on Yobe school Boko Haram attacks have continued in the northeast despite the military presence in local communities in the northeast.
Shehu Sani disagrees with federal government on defeat of Boko Haram “We are calling on parents to help the school update its list by reporting immediately their children arrived home safely,” he said. The Yobe state police commissioner Abdumaliki Sunmonu said no case of abduction had been established yet.
A teacher in the school, who escaped the attack, said the insurgents stormed the school around 7pm through the eastern part of the town. Meanwhile, parents have besieged the school to know the whereabouts of their children.
In a related development, the Yobe state government has closed the school for one week and sent the students home so as ease tension.
Announcing the closure, the state commissioner of education, Alhaji Mohammed Lamin, who was represented by his permanent secretary, called on the parents to take solace as the government is doing its best to search for the missing students. He said that over ninety percent of the students have returned to the school while others have reached their parent safely.
Also, some of the students said they would not return to the school until government stations security operatives in the school.
Maimuna Lawan, an SSS3 student said the insurgents stormed the gate around 6:30 p.m. “They were shouting that we should not run. We got terrified by the gunshots and scale the fence, we are not sure if they abducted some students but we suspected they did because, they were calling some students when I ran away,” she said.
Speaking on the issue, Alhaji Zannah, the local government chairman, said he had sent security personnel to trace those still missing. “We believe they are in the bush and we will intensify our search until we find them, God willing,” he said.
The attack happened on the same day the terrorists launched a deadly attack at the University of Maiduguri, two weeks after they released three lecturers of the institution following months of captivity. A Boko Haram bomber detonated his explosive in the evening on Monday, February 19, near a students’ hostel, but was gunned down before he could unleash mayhem. Survivors of Boko Haram
(Daily Trust)
