How kidnap of Dapchi schoolgirls occurred – Residents, School staff

Residents of Dapchi, the Yobe community attacked on Monday, said the Boko Haram gunmen that invaded their community had no other mission than to abduct the female students of Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, according to a report in PT.
The grieving parents, relatives, and residents of Dapchi told the online publication the gunmen that invaded their community were strangers who had to force some of the residents to show them way around the town.
“They were total strangers to the town”, Abubakar Muhammed told the publication.
“They did not even know where the school GGSS is located even though it is just by the road on the way to Gashua. And when they eventually located the school they moved in, captured many of our daughters and left without anyone confronting them”.
Abdullahi Jimuna, another young man who identified himself as a trader, said many of them are yet to overcome the shock of witnessing such invasion, which was the first ever in the community.
“On Monday at about 6.30 p.m., we were about to perform the evening prayer, then we saw about eight Hilux vans and a Tata truck coming into the town the other direction”, said Mr. Jimuna, a lanky fair-skinned man.
Lai Mohammed leading the federal government delegation to Dapchi

“When they arrived the town the vehicles separated in two groups, taking different directions. Then suddenly they began to shoot sporadically. After a while, as everyone was fleeing, then we began to hear the schoolgirls were screaming, we saw some of them scaling the fence and taking to the bush. Then we saw some of them being conveyed in a truck and being taken away.
“We were told on Wednesday night that they have been rescued somewhere near Geidam, but we later found out that it was all lies. It was lies because the governor came here today and informed us that as far as he was concerned these kids were not even abducted and taken away, that they might have ran into the bush.
“So if that is his opinion on the matter, then it means the issue of rescuing them from the Boko Haram does not arise. As I am talking to you now, many of us are traumatised, many are hospitalised due to the incident and abduction of the girls,” Mr. Jimuna said.
According to Usman Na-Katarko, a farmer, the schoolgirls were the primary target of the Boko Haram gunmen whom he said were total strangers to the town.
“It was about prayer time, and we were in the mosque when we began to hear sounds of vehicles moving at unusual speed around the streets,” he said.
“Then we saw some of them driving towards where the security people are stationed. Then we began to hear shootings. From my experience as an internally displaced person from Katarko, I knew that such kind of shooting was not a friendly one. So I told people that this is not good we have to take to safety.
“I told them that these people in military uniform are not soldiers because on their Hilux vans are inscriptions in Arabic.
“So I had to flee out of the mosque. As I was running towards my house to see if my family had also ran out, I saw a large number of Boko Haram gunmen (marching on) a village head of a nearby community called Dana, asking him to take them to a school; I had to dock and I heard them cursing him and shouting at him that “show us where the school is, show us where the girls school is.” And I think the Village head deliberately took them to a junior secondary near the hospital, where there were no student at that time, and when they were going into the school the village head escaped.
“When they found out that the school was empty they came back asking people to tell them the location of GGSS until they eventually located the school. They were very specific about what they were looking for. In fact they were telling some people in Kanuri language that “go on with your prayers we are not here for you people.” They even shook hands with some villagers to tell them they did not mean harm.
Students during a head count by school authorities earlier in the week

“From all indication, their primary mission was the school and it appeared most of them don’t know much about the town, they were strangers that was why it took them time to locate the school which was along the highway at the outskirts of the town.
“When they eventually found the school, they abducted more than 90 girls, most of them are our friends and brothers’ daughters, and took them away,” he said.
Another resident of the town said even if the security operatives had arrived Dapchi two hours after the attack they would have been able to intercept the abductors and rescue the girls.
“On Monday at prayer time, they came into the town, they did not beat or harm anyone”, he said.
“All they were interested in was abducting the girls and taking them away. They also looted our wares in shops and then made away with the girls in trucks.
“After a day, we got the information that they have been intercepted in Geidam and the girls were being returned to Dapchi town. We all gathered here to receive them, then the governor came and said the truth was that there were not girls that were found.
“Everyone saw them leaving with our daughters, they took them on trucks and headed east, towards Gumsa village. As they were leaving many of us saw their vehicles breaking down on the way and they were stopping to fix it then carry on; they did not go far from this vicinity up till about 9 p.m. in the night. No one came to chase them; even when the soldiers arrived, they did not give them any pursuit.
“We can only pray that God should intervene and help us rescue our children because it is very clear that government and the security operatives are not ready to protect or help us.”
At the school premises, one of the halls was littered with clothing, shoes, books and the air choked with smell of already served but abandoned meals.
Boko Haram:  abducted the school girls

Ya’Ari Malam Ari, the chief cook of the school, who was still at the dorm area because the management asked her and her colleagues to report daily to cook for the newly deployed soldiers guarding the school, said that in her over 15 years of working in the school kitchen, she had never witnessed a situation in which poor little students were so horrified.
“I have been working in this school as a cook for over 15 years, and this is our first experience with such kind of horror,” she said.
She said her daughter was among those that took to the bush at the time of the attack.
“We were all here preparing the students to break their usual Monday voluntary fasting which most of the Muslim students observe, when we began to hear distant shooting and commotion in town. Suddenly we saw men in uniform but who don’t look like soldiers entering our school premises and heading towards the dormitory area.
“Somebody alerted us that it was Boko Haram and we immediately asked everyone to run for safety. When the students were fleeing some of them were deceived to enter the Boko Haram gunmen’s vehicle. Because as everyone was running in confusion, some of the Boko Haram men started calling on the girls and telling them ‘come and let’s help’, ‘come and let’s help you to escape’. So many of them were either deceived or forcefully taken away by the gunmen.
“I have a child who is a student here and she was lucky to escape and return home, after I had given up hope that she might have been abducted as well. Her name is Zara Bukar.
“But many of her friends are nowhere to be found. We have not seen Ummi, we have not seen Yaani Fanna, we have not seen Zarau, Kaka, Halira, Zara, Maimuna all of them are yet to be found. I know more than ten girls in Dapchi town who are missing. Even one of my neighbour’s daughter who is in her final year and was already betrothed is also missing,” she said.
Many of the parents of the abducted school girls felt disappointed that government lied about rescue and while expressing their disappointment asked the government to help rescue the girls.
A parent, Aminami Maigoro told the publication that he could not find his 20 years old daughter, whom he said was also among the missing schoolgirls.
“She was in JSS 3. I am deeply saddened by what happened here on Monday,” he said.
“We live in Jimbam, a village not far away from here and she is schooling here. We came here to take delivery of our daughters after we heard that they were rescued in Geidam. But when we got here we found out that there were no girls that were rescued. We are seriously concerned and worried about government coming out to deny its statement made less than 24 hours ago. We fear they should not play politics with the lives of our children.”
Muhammed Sanusi, another parent, said he could not find his 14 years old daughter when the school management asked those that escaped the attack to go home. He said he was not pleased with the way government was managing the situation.
“When the Boko Haram gunmen came, it was already getting dark and initially we did not know that they had entered the school,” he said.