Report: 94 girls missing after Boko Haram attack on Yobe school
Ninety-four students have not been seen since Government Girls Secondary School, Dapchi, Yobe was attacked by suspected Boko Haram insurgents.
The insurgents invaded the school Monday night at about 7pm.
A teacher at the school told Daily Trust that 94 students could not be accounted for following a roll call.
The source said they have not been able to establish if the girls were abducted or not.
“After the roll call, 610 out the total number of 704 students have returned. We are still searching for the remaining 94 students,” he was quoted as saying.
“We cannot say [if they have been abducted], 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. We are calling on parents to help the school update its list by reporting immediately their children arrived home safely.”
Abdumaliki Sunmonu, Yobe police commissioner, said the students are being profiled to know who is missing.
He said there is no case of abduction yet.
“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,” Sunmonu said.
After the attack, the state government shut down the school for a week to “ease tension”.
Some of the students have vowed not to return to school.
If the schoolgirls are confirmed abducted, it will be a repeat of the brazen kidnap of 276 girls from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state, in 2014.
So far, 163 of the Chibok schoolgirls have regained their freedom.
The government just played ‘kidnap and rescue’ drama in conjunction with its military, simple. It is election time once again and the government has to ‘demonstrate’ to the electorate its capabilities.