Nearly half the girls abducted from their school in Yobe State are said to have been ferried across the border into Niger Republic.
The girls were seized from Government Girls Technical College, Dapchi by suspected Boko Haram terrorists.
A publication by Daily Trust, on Sunday, February 25, 2018, stated that the girls were split into two groups; one was left in an enclave in northern Borno State and the other taken to a village in Niger Republic.
It was gathered that the girls were abducted by the Musab Albarnawi faction of the Boko Haram which is loyal to the Islamic State of West Africa.
The group had lost grounds along the shores of the Lake Chad, the same way Abubakar Shekau, the factional leader of the group suffered was sacked from the Sambisa Forest base following onslaught by the Nigerian military.
“The girls ferried across a shallow river and are held in the border town of Duro in Niger Republic,” the source, who does not want to be named, said.
“The second batch has been moved to Tumbun Gini area of Abadam LGA of Borno,” he added.
Abadam, with headquarters at Malam Fatori is three kilometres from Bosso Niger Republic.
The military was not available for comments last night.
Military withdrawal aided school attack, Gaidam insists
Ibrahim Gaidam, the Yobe State governor, re-emphasized yesterday that the Boko Haram attack in Dapchi and Buni-Yadi years back were aided by Military withdrawals from those locations.
The governor, who spoke during a sympathy visit paid to him by Borno State governor and chairman, Northern Governors Forum, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, said the military did not notify them when troops were withdrawn.
“I want to put the record straight, there was no military presence at the time of Dapchi attack because we don’t even know that the Military have been withdrawn.
“The Dapchi and Buni-Yadi attacks are similar because both attacks came weeks after the military withdrawal. I want the press to quote me on this” he said.
Governor Gaidam said it was not an accuse for the theatre commander to attribute the military withdrawal to shortage of personnel.
“When I met the Theatre commander on why the military were withdrawn, he said they have shortage of manpower. To me, it is not an excuse because it’s duty bound for the FG to recruit and bridge the gap” he added.
Yobe State government said yesterday that the Military withdrew from Dapchi a week not hours as reported by an online newspaper.
Also a statement by the Director-General, Press Affairs to Yobe Governor, Malam Abdullahi Bego said the report by the medium is erroneous and misleading.
The statement said Gaidam was reported as having told Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State when he came on a sympathy visit to Government House Damaturu that military men were “unexpectedly withdrawn from the town (Dapchi) a few hours before the attack” on the girls’ college in Dapchi.
“We wish to put it on record that His Excellency Governor Gaidam did not say the military were withdrawn “a few hours before the attack.”
“Here is what the governor said on the issue: “The unfortunate situation that I observed and about which I drew the attention of the Theatre Commander who came with the FG delegation to Dapchi and the GOC who is resident here is that there is no justification whatsoever to withdraw the military from Dapchi town knowing fully well that there is a girls’ school there and that the local government area is one of the flashpoint areas. They withdrew the military personnel from the town last week which was not even known to us. Within the week following the withdrawal of the military, this incident happened. I drew their attention to that so that they restore the presence of the military personnel. A lot needs to be done even though Mr. President is doing his best to ensure that the insurgency is stamped out”.
“Therefore, the timeline for when military presence was withdrawn from Dapchi as reported by SaharaReporters is erroneous and misleading.
