FG confirms 110 Dapchi girls unaccounted for, steps up rescue efforts

*As Femi Adesina says only enemies of Nigeria will politicize girls’ plight

The Federal Government has confirmed that 110 students of the Government Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State, are so far unaccounted for, after insurgents believed to be from a faction of Boko Haram invaded their school on Monday 19th February 2018.

This confirmation by Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, was contained in a statement issued in Damaturu, Yobe State capital on Sunday by his Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Segun Adeyemi, copy of which was sent to The DEFENDER.
The Minister announced the figure after a meeting held in Damaturu on Sunday between a Federal Government delegation and representatives of key stakeholders, including the state government, the college, the parents, security agencies and Bursari Local Government, where Dapchi is situated.

The DEFENDER had earlier reported the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, to have said that government would not manufacture reports about the incident but that it would talk only after it had proper briefing.
Rising from the Sunday meeting, the Minister said, based on the briefings from the Principal of the College, Hajia Adama Abdulkarim, and the state Commissioner for Education, Hon. Mohammed Lamin, 906 students – out of whom 110 have not been accounted for – were in the school on the day of the attack.
Alhaji Mohammed also announced that the Federal Government had directed the police and civil defence authorities in Yobe State to immediately deploy their personnel to all the schools in the state in order to ensure the security and safety of the students and their staffers.
The Minister disclosed that the Federal Government had stepped up efforts to rescue the girls and return them safely to their parents, saying the security agencies are working on many leads regarding the whereabouts of the girls.
“This is the second time in four days that a Federal Government delegation would visit Yobe State since the unfortunate incident. This is a measure of the seriousness with which we are addressing the issue. The security forces are leaving no stone unturned in their search for the girls.
“We are back here in Yobe as part of efforts to provide some succor to the parents of the girls, to let them know that they are not alone and also to reassure them that we will not rest until we have found the girls. We will carry the parents along on the efforts we are making,” he said.
For his part, the Minister of Interior said the delegation embarked on the trip in order to get the facts right “so that the approach to the solution can be correct”.
“We must get back the girls and also ensure that this does not happen again,” he said.
The Federal Government delegation, which comprised the Ministers of Information and Culture as well as that of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retired), held an enlarged meeting that was attended by Governor Ibrahim Geidam of Yobe State; members of the state cabinet, the Principal and Vice Principal of the school, representatives of the parents of the missing girls and security agencies, among others.

Earlier on Sunday in an interview with The DEFENDER, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Femi Adesina, said only those are enemies of Nigeria celebrate the Dapchi girls abduction.

He spoke just as some political elements were already making comparison to show that the President would not have moral rights to blame the past administration of Goodluck Jonathan-led Federal Government of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for failure of government that led to the abduction of Chibok Girls.

In the meantime, a respondent told our correspondent in Lagos that there was no way Chibok girls issue is near that of Dapchi in gauging the security alertness on the part of both past and sitting administrations.

He said, “Those who are wondering why this has happened may not necessarily be surprised because at no point has government pretended not to know that Borno, Adamawa and Yobe are major centres of operations for Boko Haram.  What is clear is and is different between the past and the present governments is the failure of the last government to pursue the abduction of Chibok girls immediately it happened and immediate action by the sitting government to go after the abductors.

“So, when we see failure we should not pretend we do not see and when we seriousness and political will to meet insecurity shoulder-to-shoulder, we should appreciate and encourage the government doing the jobs to be able to achieve success because, we cannot make another Chibok in Dapchi,” he said.