Oredola Adeola
Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states in Northeast Nigeria have been under intense attack since May, 2013, by Boko Haram, the Islamic militants.
This unfortunate crisis perpetrated by the deadly militant group has taken different shapes between 2013 and 2018, and leaving many questions unanswered, based on the coordination of attacks amidst Federal Government’s claim of victory.
Of particular emphasis for the sake of this article is the abduction of innocent school girls who are often used by the Abubakar Shekau- led terrorists group to negotiate for the release of members of the group in custody of the government.
Behind this dangerous operation is a sequence of activities that often precedes invasion by the Islamic militants.
Also worrying are illogical statements and actions often taken by relevant authorities after the regrettable damages may have been perpetrated on unsuspecting masses.
Records and investigations of activities that occurred pre and post-invasion, leave no one in doubt that adoption of school girls especially in the Northeastern geopolitical zone of the country are deliberate and coordinated attempt by those in the know – both the Boko Haram militants and God knows who - to visit innocent masses with pains, anguish and sorrow.
The gains of the attacks in whatever form it may appear to the perpetrators, as far as I am concerned, remains a mystery.
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Students of Dapchi after the attack by the Islamic militants
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Also worrisome is the trauma of the attack on victims of the attacks and their families.
The puzzle in these perfectly coordinated attacks was when security operatives saddled with the responsibilities of being on top of intelligence gathering, are beaten to their games, leaving the innocent masses at the mercies of the deadly militants.
When news first emerged about the kidnap of students of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok village, Borno state in April 15, 2014, it was discovered that there were intelligence reports of planned invasion of the affected community by the terrorists.
Report conducted by Amnesty International at that time accused the military commanders of knowing the terror group was on its way to raid a boarding school in the town of Chibok at least four hours before the abduction.
The findings by the human right group echoe accounts of a number of the parents and villagers, who highlighted the military response in the days and weeks after the girls were abducted.
The report alleged that after the army commanders were informed of the pending attack, they were unable to raise enough troops to respond. The commanders allegedly left a contingent of between 15 and 17 soldiers and a handful of police officers in Chibok to fend off the militants.
"When it was clear that these girls had been abducted, no reinforcements were sent to the town," Makmid Kamara, a researcher with Amnesty International reported.
Kamara said that the administration of Goodluck Jonathan disputed the findings, saying the first intelligence received was of an ongoing attack at Chibok.
When evidence was presented to the then government, it vowed to investigate the allegations even as it defended its military response and questioned the motive behind the accounts.
Days after the girls were abducted, there were conflicting reports on the number of kidnapped students, even after school authority had conducted headcount of the students.
Initial reports revealed that more than 200 students were abducted by Boko Haram, but state government downgraded the figures, saying the correct figure was about 130 girls.
As a result, for almost a month, army command, school authority and State and Federal Government could not give definite figure of abductees.
Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima who later visited the school on Monday, April 21,2014, was informed that 234 girls were abducted.It was later discovered that abducted girls, aged 16-18, were 276.
Since then, efforts have been made by Federal Government , humanitarian groups and international organisations to secure the release of the girls, suspected to have been taken to the Sambisa forest near the Cameroonian border.
Today, out of the 276 abductees, 57 later fled from their captors, 4 found, and 106 released while 112 are still missing.
About 1405 days after the Chibok incident happened, another abduction, which took similar shape as the Borno, Chibok girls kidnap, happened in Yobe State, under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, that has boasted that Sambisa forest had been decimated while the Boko Haram terrorists have been technically defeated.
On the night of Monday February 19, 2018, Government Girls Science and Technical Secondary School, Dapchi town, in Bursari Local Government area of Yobe state, came under heavy attack of the Boko Haram leading to residents including students of school, fleeing into the bush, for safety, while 111 girls were reportedly kidnapped.
As usual, after almost three days after the incident had happened, the school authority, state government, police and military authorities have been finding it difficult to give definite account of the number of girls abducted.
At first, there were denials that no student was abducted. The government official claimed that the terrorist only sacked the school kitchen.
Some of the students who escaped from the invasion later disclosed that the militants came with 18 gun trucks mounted with high calibre weapons, which were used to move the girls out of the community.
A student who identified herself as Aishat Abdullahi, told reporter that army command deployed ground troop and helicopter to Dapchi village, after the Principal of the school placed a call to the command.
As usual the villagers and vigilante group also claimed that they gave the relevant authorities notices of an impending invasion which was not treated with seriousness. They alleged that it was clear that the terrorists had carefully planned the abduction.
They alleged that a week before the attack, soldiers protecting the town were moved elsewhere leaving the town vulnerable.
Meanwhile in a face saving manner, after several claims and counter claims, the Yobe state government, in a statement signed and released to the media by Abdullahi Bego, the Director-General, Press Affairs to Governor Ibrahim Gaidam, on Wednesday, February 21,2018, claimed that some of the girls were rescued and were then in the custody of the Nigerian Army.
While efforts were made to verify the claim from the military authority, the Yobe State Governor, Ibrahim Gaidam, who visited Dapchi town on Thursday February 22, 2018, however, said, contrary to the claim that students were rescued, no girl has been rescued yet.
Governor Gaidam, however pleaded with the affected family members and the people of the community to keep praying to God for the release of their daughters.
However when the parents and the school authority conducted a head count shortly after the Monday evening attack, it was revealed that 48 of girls were rescued by the army, another 111 of them were reportedly still missing after the attack.
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