Saturday, March 03, 2018

Nigerian Government Extends Search for 110 Dapchi Girls to Neighboring Countries 
By Nkechi Onyedika-Ugoeze, Abuja
Nigeria Guardian
03 March 2018   |   4:02 am

Sandals are strewn in the yard of the Government Girls Science and Technical College staff quarters in Dapchi, Nigeria, on February 22, 2018.

Anger erupted in a town in remote northeast Nigeria on February 22 after officials fumbled to account for scores of schoolgirls from the college who locals say have been kidnapped by Boko Haram jihadists.

Police said on February 21 that 111 girls from the college were unaccounted for following a jihadist raid late on February 19. Hours later, Abdullahi Bego, spokesman for Yobe state governor Ibrahim Gaidam, said “some of the girls” had been rescued by troops “from the terrorists who abducted them”.

But on a visit to Dapchi on Thursday, Gaidam appeared to question whether there had been any abduction.

The Federal Government yesterday said it has extended the ongoing search for the 110 girls abducted from the Government Girls Science and Technical College (GGSTC), Dapchi, Yobe State, to the neighbouring countries.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who disclosed this in a statement, said top military and security officials on Thursday travelled to the northeast to add more urgency to the search, which has now been extended beyond the northeast theatre.

According to the minister, the officials include the country’s top military officers, such as Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin; Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas; Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai (COAS) and the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Alhaji Lawal Daura.

They joined the Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, who
had earlier relocated to the northeast, as well as the National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj-Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd), who has also visited the theatre.

The federal government had earlier released the names and other details of the 110 girls yet to be accounted for, following the February 19 attack and a panel set up to unravel the circumstances surrounding their abduction was inaugurated on Thursday by the NSA.

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