SAN FRANCISCO, February 21, (THEWILL) – Ninety-four students have not been seen since Government Girls Secondary School, Dapchi, Yobe was attacked by suspected Boko Haram insurgents on Monday night.
This was revealed by a teacher at the school in an interview with Daily Trust.
The teacher stated that 94 students could not be accounted for following a roll call but added that 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.”
In the same vein, Aishatu Abdullahi, one of the schoolgirls that escaped the attack has claimed that it was not all of the students that were so lucky as she claims that some of the girls may have been taken away by the armed insurgents.
The seemingly traumatised girl who spoke with a Premium Times reporter on phone said she saw some of the girls being forced away by the armed gunmen insisting that the attackers came with the intention of abducting students before many of the students took to the bushes by scaling the perimeter fence of the school.
According to the Aishatu, who spoke in Hausa, the attackers were not confronted by any security operatives until the school principal placed a call for help while they were hiding in a deserted house not far away from the school.
“My name is Aishatu Abdullahi. I am a Senior Secondary (SS) student of GGSS Dapchi,” she said (translated).
“I was in the school when the Boko Haram insurgents came at exactly the time we were preparing to break our usual Monday fast. They were shooting guns and everyone was confused; then we started running helter skelter. We saw some people pushing some of the students to enter their vehicles.
“There were no soldiers at the time of the invasion. It was later after the principal placed a call that some soldiers came and then we began to see helicopter hovering around the village.”
“We were in the mosque when the Boko Haram gunmen came into the town. According to the accounts of some of my mates, the Boko Haram told those that were caught in the mosque to sit on the floor, including our teachers. One of our teacher was injured in his leg and hand – I don’t know if it was from gunshot. We don’t know what later happened, the gunmen later left the people in the mosque.
“They came in three trucks. But they didn’t cart away food from our store as claimed.
“Some of the other schoolgirls ran with some of our teachers to a house near the school. We saw the women in the house running away, but we had to enter and hide inside the house. All of us that escaped including our school principal, the vice principal and some other teachers stayed in the deserted house till morning.
“I cannot say how many of us (were involved) but I know that our game master was able to escape with about 60 students into the bush.
“Many students cannot be accounted for till this moment, some classes are empty, some classes had less than 15 students; some said ten could not be accounted for; mostly all of the classes have missing students.
“Many of us are traumatised; many were even fainting upon hearing any unusual sounds due to the experience.
“The school has given us one week to go home for a break; but in all honesty, I am not willing to come back here because we are scared of what could happen to us in the future.”
THEWILL recalls that Abdumaliki Sunmonu, Yobe Police Commissioner, has said there is no case of abduction yet saying the Police was profiling the students to know those who are missing.
If confirmed that some of the schoolgirls were indeed kidnapped, it would be a repeat of the April 2014 brazen kidnap of 276 girls from their secondary school in Chibok, Borno State.
So far, 163 of the Chibok schoolgirls have regained their freedom while dozens of the Chibok girls are still with the Boko Haram, almost four years since the abduction.
