Yobe Attack: Buhari Orders Defence Minister To Visit School
President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali (retd), to proceed to Yobe State on Thursday for on the spot assessment of Monday’s attack on Government Girls Technical College, Dapchi, by Boko Haram militants.
The President also directed security agencies to immediately mobilise and deploy operatives to the vulnerable areas of the state and ensure that the missing schoolgirls return safely.
Recall that 94 of the schoolgirls were declared missing on Monday, after the insurgents invaded the school.
The students were said to have fled into nearby bushes to avoid being killed or abducted.
On Wednesday, Mohammed Lamin, the state commissioner of education, said a total of 48 of the missing schoolgirls have returned, leaving 46 still missing.
The Yobe state Police Commissioner, Mr Summonu Abdulmaliki, had on Tuesday said the Force have been unable to establish if the insurgents abducted any of the missing girls.
Reacting later on Wednesday, President Buhari assured parents and guardians of the girls that his administration will do all in its power to ensure the safe return of the missing girls.
The President’s order comes hours after former Minister of Education and co-convener of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign, Oby Ezekwesili, tackled him over the missing schoolgirls.
Ezekwesili expressed fears that the Chibok experience of four years ago may have repeated itself.
Recall that in April 2014, the sect abducted 276 girls from the Government Secondary School in the town of Chibok in Borno State.
I have directed the Military and Police to mobilize immediately to ensure that all the missing girls of Government Girls Secondary School, Dapchi, are found. The Minister of Defence will also lead a Federal Government delegation to Yobe tomorrow, to ascertain the situation.
— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) February 21, 2018
I share the anguish of all the parents and guardians of the girls that remain unaccounted for. I would like to assure them that we are doing all in our power to ensure the safe return of all the girls.
— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) February 21, 2018