We will rescue 110 abducted Dapchi schoolgirls, Buhari assures parents

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday assured Nigerians and the international community that the 110 abducted Dapchi school girls would be brought back safely to their families.

Buhari gave the assurance while addressing parents of abducted girls, traditional leaders and stakeholders at a town hall meeting in Damaturu.

“I am here in Yobe State today to express my sincere sympathies with the parents, families, the government and the entire people of Yobe State, whose daughters were callously abducted by unrepentant terrorists.”

According to him, on February 19, 2018, we woke up to the painful news of the abduction of 110 students of Government Girls’ Science and Technical College, Dapchi.

He said since then he had not left any stone unturned in making sure that the girls were rescued.

On how to rescue the girls, he said: “I have ordered the Service Chiefs and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to take direct charge and brief me on a daily basis on the efforts to bring back the girls.’’

He said the joint operational base involving relevant agencies to coordinate the rescue exercise has already been strengthened.

He added that the service commanders have not only established a unified command centre in Maiduguri, but the military has raised
several rescue teams.

The rescue teams, according to him, are to comb the forests in the Northeast theatre of operation.

Even the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), he added, has maintained aerial surveillance since the girls were abducted by Boko Haram insurgents from their college.
He further disclosed that parents of the abductees have been reassured of measures the Federal Government is taking, particularly on the spot assessment of the incident.

Some of the measures, according to the President, include a 12-member committee to unravel the circumstances surrounding the abduction of the students.

He also warned: “Any agency, person or group found to have been negligent or culpable in the abduction of the girls will be punished
in accordance with the law.”

Speaking on terrorism, Buhari said various strategies had been explored by the military and security agencies, including regional and international collaborations to exterminate terror in the country.

According to him, the Armed Forces, security and intelligence services, were also re-equipped to fight insurgency and other criminal activities.

He said due to the commitment of government, over 100 Chibok girls have been rescued and reunited with their families, including sending them back to school and empowered with requisite skills.

Responding, Governor Ibrahim Gaidam and the Emir of Fika and Chairman, Yobe State Council of Chiefs, Dr. Muhammad Ibn Abali Muhammad Idrissa thanked the Federal Government for its pledge to rescue the abducted girls.

Meanwhile, the Anambra State House of Assembly (ASHA) has chided the President Buhari-led administration and all the security agencies in Nigeria, accusing them of failing to provide adequate security of lives and property, which they said is the primary duty of government.
 
In a motion sponsored by Obinna Emeneka and 28 others, the lawmakers condemned the abduction of 110 school girls.
 
The legislators called on the Federal Government to take urgent measures that would lead to apprehending the abductors, as well as deploying all the necessary security operatives, apparatus so as to ensure the safe rescue of the school girls, and uniting them to their families.

Also, the Federal Government has called on stakeholders to reawaken security consciousness in schools.