• Air Force deploys surveillance jets in search of abducted girls
• Again, governor blames military for kidnap

At last, the Federal Government, yesterday, confirmed that 110 students of the Government Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State, were so far missing. The government said that the missing students were unaccounted for, after Boko Haram insurgents invaded their school last Monday.

This is as the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) deployed its air assets in the North- East with a view to locating and facilitating the rescue of the missing girls. The Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, said that the search “is a day and night operation.”

No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction, which is reminiscent of the April 14, 2014 kidnap of over 200 students of Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State. Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, after a meeting between a Federal Government delegation and representatives of the state government, the college, parents, security agencies and Bursari Local Government Area, where Dapchi is situated, in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, declared that 110 schoolgirls are still missing.

Mohammed, who based his figures on the briefings from the Principal of the College, Hajia Adama Abdulkarim, and the state Commissioner for Education, Hon. Mohammed Lami, stated that there were 906 students in the school on the day of the attack.

He said that out of the figure, 110 have not been accounted for since after the attack. Mohammed also said 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.

He disclosed that the Federal Government has stepped up efforts to rescue the girls and return them safely to their parents. According to him, security agencies were 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 succour 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. Also speaking, the Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (rtd.), 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 held an enlarged meeting that was attended by Governor Ibrahim Gaidam 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. On efforts to rescue the missing students, the NAF yesterday said Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft, among others, had been deployed, for possible location of the schoolgirls.

The disclosure was made by the Director of Public Relations and Information (DOPRI), Air Vice Marshal Olatokunbo Adesanya. According to the DOPRI, the Air Force, which had earlier undertaken a covert mission, is working in collaboration with surface security agencies. “NAF has deployed additional air assets, including Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platforms, to the North- East in a renewed effort at locating the missing Dapchi girls,” Adesanya said.

He added: “Before now, following confirmation of reports that some of the girls were yet to be accounted for, the NAF had deployed some ISR platforms and helicopters to search for and possibly locate the missing girls, as well as the rogue Boko Haram Terrorists (BHTs).

“Although these search operations were conducted in a covert manner, for obvious reasons, the efforts did not yield the desired results. Accordingly, the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, directed the immediate deployment of additional air assets and NAF personnel to the North-East with the sole mission of conducting day and night searches for the missing girls. “It is noteworthy that the renewed efforts at locating the girls are being conducted in close liaison with other surface security forces.

“While the NAF will spare no efforts at possibly locating the girls via its air operations, it also seizes this opportunity to call on anyone, especially the locals, who might have any information that could lead to the location of the girls to bring such information forward to NAF authorities or other relevant security agencies,” the NAF’s spokesman said. Meanwhile, Governor Gaidam insisted for the second time that the withdrawal of military men from the area was responsible for the abduction of the students.

The governor, who received the Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Kashim Shetima, in Damaturu yesterday, insisted that the attack came barely a week after the military withdrew troops from the town. He had told the Governor of Kano State, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, the same thing on Friday. Gaidam believed that if the soldiers had been on ground, the attack on the town and subsequent abduction of schoolgirls would not happen. He said: “I blame the whole attack on Dapchi on the military and the defence headquarters, who withdrew troops from Dapchi. The attack occurred barely a week after the military withdrew the soldiers from there. “Before then, Dapchi had been peaceful.

There was never such incident. But just a week after they withdrew the troops, Boko Haram came to attack the town.” The governor said the Dapchi incident was not the first time the absence of soldiers in the Boko Haram-prone state would expose residents to such kind of attacks. According to him, in 2013, a secondary school in Buni-Yadi was attacked a week after the military removed soldiers guarding the town. That led to the death of 29 students. He noted: “Let me be quoted anywhere. The military must take blame for the attack on Dapchi.

The same thing happened in 2013 when the military suddenly removed troops guarding the town and a week later, Boko Haram went there to attack the town and the secondary school there, killing 29 students.” Shettima, who was in Damaturu on behalf of the Northern States Governors’ Forum, called on Nigerians not to politicise security issues, especially in time of crisis. He said: “Your Excellency (Gaidam), I have been in your shoes since 2014 when schoolgirls were abducted in Chibok.

I know exactly how you feel. When our daughters were abducted in Chibok, only God understood how I felt and I can imagine how you also feel, and the trauma you are going through. “This incident, however, reminds all of us not only in Borno and Yobe, but perhaps across the Northern Nigeria, to be on guard. I think the difference between the Chibok incident and this one, is that the Federal Government didn’t react in denial, doubt or formed a conspiracy theory.

The Federal Government assumed responsibility, which we hope will lead to rescue of the schoolgirls,” Shettima said. But the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said the presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) should come out clean on issues surrounding the missing girls.

PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the presidency has a lot of questions to answer regarding the allegation that security around the area was compromised before the kidnap, as well as the misleading reports that frustrated immediate rescue of the abducted girls.

“Nigerians have been in shock over revelations by the Yobe State governor, Ibrahim Gaidam, that the abduction was preceded by withdrawal of troops around Dapchi, thereby rendering the area defenceless and paving the way for insurgents to attack and abduct our girls,” PDP stated. It demanded to know who authorized the said withdrawal of troops from the area and for what purpose.