Buhari says kidnap is a national disaster

dimeji akinloye

February 23, 2018 9:10 PM

The President said more troops and surveillance aircraft will be deployed to monitor movements in the entire territory on a 24-hour basis.

President

The president apologised for the occurrence and assured the missing girls' families that the Federal Government will do everything possible to rescue them.

Buhari was quoted to have said this in a statement issued on Friday, February 23, by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.

The President said upon hearing the sad news, he immediately ordered security agencies to deploy in full and ensure that all the girls are returned safely.

The statement said, "The entire country stands as one with the girls’ families, the government and the people of Yobe State.

"This is a national disaster. We are sorry that this could have happened and share your pain. We pray that our gallant armed forces will locate and safely return your missing family members."

He added that more troops and surveillance aircraft will be sent out to shadow all movements in the entire territory on a 24-hour basis.

On Monday, February 19, the terrorists stormed the school on kidnapped some girls while others were said to have fled into the bush.

However, there have been conflicting reported number of the abducted girls - some reports said 94 girls were abducted while others put the number at 111.

False Rescue

On Wednesday, the Yobe state government 'confirmed' that the Nigerian Army was able to rescue all the girls, only to make a U-turn in another statement on Thursday.

Abdullahi Bego, the spokesman for the state Governor,Ibrahim Gaidam, said they were misinformed by an unreliable source.

He affirmed that the girls are still missing.

ALSO READ: Dapchi residents attack Yobe Governor for lying about girls' rescue

In April 2014, Boko Haram stormed the Government Secondary School in the town of Chibok, Borno State and abducted 276 female students.

A total of 57 of the girls, however, managed to escape over the next few months while the Federal Government secured the release 21 girls in October 2016 and another 82 of the girls were freed in May 2017 in exchange for ransom.

dimeji akinloye