President Muhammadu Buhari has accepted the fact that his administration did not prevent yet another kidnapping of school girls in Dapchi in Yobe State, northeast Nigeria just as the United States of America strongly condemned the abduction of scores of schoolgirls of Government Girls Technical College in the state by suspected Boko Haram terrorists. However, the embattled president of Nigeria who is considering seeking reelection come 2019 assured the families of students reportedly abducted in Yobe State that no effort would be spared in bringing succour to them.
He said, “When I received the devastating news of the attack on the school and the fact that the local authorities could not account for all the students, I immediately dispatched a high-level delegation on a fact-finding visit to the town. I also instructed the security agencies to deploy in full and not spare any effort to ensure that all the girls are returned safely and the attackers arrested and made to face justice. The entire country stands as one with the girls’ families, the government and the people of Yobe State. This is a national disaster. We are sorry that this could have happened and share your pain. We pray that our gallant armed forces will locate and safely return your missing family members.
“Our government is sending more troops and surveillance aircraft to keep an eye on all movements in the entire territory on a 24-hour basis, in the hope that all the missing girls will be found,” Buhari said in a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Alhaji Garba Shehu.
Having condemned the development, the spokesperson of the United States Department of State, Ms. Heather Nauert, at a press briefing on Thursday, said though US was yet to get all the details about the abduction, it condemned, in the strongest possible terms, the terror attack on the school. She said, “The choice of targets, including schools, markets and places of worship, reflect the brutality of terror organisations. The victims in the attacks were girls who were simply seeking an education.”
She however said the US will continue to support Nigeria in the fight against insurgency among other vices in Nigeria when she stated, “We continue to support Nigeria’s efforts to counter the terror group. We also support Nigeria’s efforts to enable more than two million displaced in the Lake Chad region to return home safely. United States continues to provide humanitarian assistance to those who were affected by the violence.”
