President Goodluck Jonathan said Boko Haram terrorists were able to kidnap the 276 girls from their school’s dormitories in Chibok, Borno State, because of lack of adequate security measures.
As he was receiving the report of the fact-finding committee that was set up in early May to investigate the April 14 kidnap, Jonathan said, in part:
“If we had just five security personnel in the compound that night, although they couldn’t have stood the firepower of the invaders, they could have alerted the girls and they wouldn’t have been deceived … Most of them [the girls] would have been able to escape and probably the number taken would not have been up to 30.
“But because there was no security at all, there was nobody to even warn the girls that there was danger.”
“The story was that they came in military camouflage and deceived the girls that they were soldiers, who came to take them on protective custody because Boko Haram was invading the community, and they followed.”
Jonathan then ordered that school operators, notably of the North Eastern boarding schools, ensure security for their students.
“Let me charge everybody, whether corporate bodies, federal and state governments or individuals that own schools especially in the north east, that if we must keep students in hostels, there must be some basic security that should be provided,” the President said, adding: “While I am not expecting school owners to put an army battalion on guard, at least basic security arrangement should be made to protect their students.”
Further, the President said that the Federal Government would rebuild the Chibok school using army engineers after the girls are rescued and hand it over to the Borno State government to manage.
The fact-finding committee has determined the exact number of abducted girls (276), saying 219 are still in the hands of captors. On Friday, photographs and names of almost all missing girls were published in the ThisDay newspaper.
Despite the emergency rule imposed in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states over a year ago, the area has often been targeted by Boko Haram.
If you wish to know how this story develops, use
Know more about this news? Update the info!