Dapchi School Attack Getting Every Attention It Deserves, Says Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday described reported abduction of girls from the Government Girls Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State as a national disaster, assuring the families of students, that no effort will be spared to bring succour to them.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari claimed in December 2016 he had technically defeated Boko Haram, weakening the group so much that it would only be able to carry out isolated suicide bombings.

Usman Katarko, a farmer, said he knew the men were not soldiers even though they wore military uniforms because there were Arabic inscriptions on their vehicles.

Minister of Information Lai Mohammed told reporters after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting that the President also directed the Minister to Defense Mansur Dan-Ali, Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama, and himself to proceed to Yobe State Thursday on a fact-finding mission.

“Already, trying to convince parents to keep their daughters in school is a challenge”, said Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode, co-convener of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign that drew global attention to the Chibok abductions. “Why did they lie to us before?”

The jihadists gained worldwide notoriety in April 2014 when they abducted 276 girls from their school in Chibok, in neighbouring Borno state. That case drew global attention to the nine-year insurgency, which has sparked what the United Nations has called one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Reuters reports that 20,000 people have been killed by the group.

On Monday, Boko Haram reportedly invaded the Government Girl’s Secondary School, shooting at students and teachers within as they approached in large, camouflaged trucks.

Makarfi in the statement signed by his spokesman, Mukhtar Sirajo, said he was deeply pained by the news of the invasion of school.

The local Yobe government released a statement Wednesday announcing the girls had been found, but later apologized for the “erroneous” statement that it said was based on inaccurate information.

They were said to have disappeared after gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram terrorists invaded the school.

Until now, that group, led by Abu Musab al-Barnawi, has typically attacked military targets, those people said. Many of those girls are still being held, though others have escaped or been freed for ransom.

A civil servant, Atting Nene, has called on the government to do all it takes to secure the release missing school girls. Unlike at Chibok, however, the army responded quickly at Dapchi. “We followed all that he said with assurances that the situation was under control”, Abdullahi Dapchi, a resident of the town who said two of his sisters were among the captives. “Now the story has changed”, said Ali Yari. According to him, “But we must understand that these are they dying days of the Boko Haram and what they intend to do is to embarrass the government because they have been degraded, they have been pushed out of Sambisa forest”.