On the evening of February 19, students of Government Girls Technical College Dapchi, about to have breakfast, heard a deafening sound, accompanied by gunshots. In the ensuing confusion, students scattered, making the situation difficult for parents, and the government to have clarity on the whereabouts of many of them. Though state government and security operatives said they couldn’t establish any case of abduction, parents, teachers and students have many stories to tell. At the scene, residents, school staff and weeping parents could be seen.

Briefing the Yobe State Police Commissioner, the Principal of the school, Hajia Adama Abdulkareem, who could not account for the number of missing students, said she was at home when some frightened students came and told her that the school was under attack. “Before we came out, the insurgents were already in the quarters. Students and teachers were all jumping over the fence,” she said.

A schoolteacher, Malam Auwal, currently battling with a fracture on his thigh, which he sustained when the insurgents struck, said he was home when the attack began. “We started running. My wife was sick then, so she could not run very fast. I tried to lift her so that we could run faster, but a bullet from behind grazed my thigh. I asked my wife to run, so that one of us will be safe, but she refused. She was shouting at them to kill her and spare me. When they came closer, one of them told her to stay calm, that they will not kill her. She lay completely on my body to prevent another shot, and they left us.”

Auwal’s wife dragged him into the school mosque, where they hid until the insurgents left. Around 12:15am some military men arrived the school and gave them first aid, then transported the couple to a hospital in Damaturu. He told Daily Trust that he heard some schoolgirls crying “Mun shiga uku!” (Hausa for ‘We’re in trouble’) and the insurgents yelling at them to keep quiet.

Auwal said the attack confirmed fears, as for a very long time there has been no security personnel attached to the school. “Some weeks ago, military presence disappeared from a nearby checkpoint. I believe the insurgents must have been monitoring that.”

Hadiza Jibo, School Matron, said when they came out during the attack, students and staff were running helter-skelter. “It was total chaos,” she said, adding: “We don’t know how many students got missing, but according to the grapevine, the figure is over 50.

Hassana Mohammed, 13, said she was holding her sister’s hand when the insurgents struck, and came face-to-face with the armed men. They threatened to shoot, and somehow in the ensuing melee Fatima managed to escape, even if her 10-year-old sister, Fatsuma, is still nowhere to be found.

One Malam Dadin-Kowa helped save many of the schoolgirls, practically tossing an estimated 50 of them over the school fence, to relative safety.

Malam Idi Adamu, whose 13-year-old daughter is among the missing girls, said she was in the company of her sisters when the insurgents struck. “They were about to escape through the gate, when insurgents accosted them. Three of the sisters ran away, but two others, including my daughter, were captured by the terrorists, who forced them into a waiting vehicle,” he said.

A tea seller, Mohammad Kabo, said a fleet of vehicles drove past him suddenly that morning. “They asked me to pack up and leave, and asked a man to show them where ‘Makarantar Boko’ (Western school) is. After an hour or so, I heard their vehicles coming back, with girls wailing for help. I was dying within, but there was nothing I could do. In the morning, we heard that the schoolgirls went missing,” he said.

“It’s painful - and shocking - each time we hear the government say the case of abduction hasn’t been established,” Kabo told Daily Trust.

The school guard, Muhammad Baakoro, said he was standing by the school water pump when he heard a gunshot. His initial thought was that police fired a warning shot to disperse opposing football fans, from some competing clubs in viewing a center, but the gunshots continue coming towards the school. Later, an explosion rent the air, and the chaos began.

Baakoro narrated: “The children initially thought the insurgents were soldiers that came to rescue them, but seeing their appearance, dusty and unkempt, with rickety vehicles, I knew then that they were insurgents. They had red lances, wearing dirty military uniforms, yelling at children to get into a Tata truck. ‘Ku zo ku shiga, mu taimake ku’ (loosely meaning ‘Get in, let’s help you’).” He said the only option for him then was to run for his life.

Baakoro made it over the school fence and began to run. “About ten students were also running with me, crying for me to help them. We ran together, and I stopped after reaching a safe distance and took them to friend’s house at a nearby village. That was how we escaped,” he said, adding: “To me, they targeted this school.”

At the dining hall, Daily Trust met Malama Fatu, a caterer at the school’s kitchen, who said on the fateful day, the insurgents whisked many kids who were yet to eat breakfast. “Some of the children are below 10. Ever since this incident, I haven’t been able to eat or sleep well because the memories keep coming back,” she said, adding that she fears what could happen to some of the schoolchildren in the desert.

“I remember how I spoke with some newly-admitted students, who are among the ones currently missing. I feel for their parents, honestly. These are children, girls between the ages of ten to twelve, for Allah’s sake,” she sighed.

Yobe State government apologized for issuing to the public, information concerning the alleged abduction and rescue of 111 schoolgirls at Government Girls Science Technical College, Dapchi. The government described the information as “unreliable”. The press release was signed by the state’s Director-General Press Affairs, Malam Abdullahi Bego.

Bego’s statement read: “We issued the statement on the basis of information provided by one of the security agencies that is involved in the fight against Boko Haram and which we had no reason to doubt. We have now established that the information we relied on to make the statement was not credible.”

The statement added that Governor Gaidam shares deeply and personally in the grief about the unfortunate event.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/dapchi-schoolgirls-staff-parents-locals-narrate-harrowing-ordeal.html

After APC used Chibok girls propaganda to destabilize GEJ's Govt., God has blessed them with real school children's kidnap, they should rescue those children or thunder will fire all of them one after the other

Karma

This goes to say that the fight against insurgency is far from being over as claimed by this administration which has been woeful in terms of dignity for human life. May God help us as we help ourselves with our PVCs come 2019.

Nigerians are too wicked

Dapchi my condolences to you.

Una see the change una vote for abi

Nigeria is such a messed up country and there's nothing we can do about it then to live with it.
Believe it or not Boko Haram has metaphorized from a religious war to a commercial war, because since Nigeria govt decided to pay undisclosed amount of ransom money to release the first and second sets of chibok girls and also the lake Chad abducted oil workers, what do u expect? Surely they will come back for more victims once they run out of cash.
This is why America don't negotiate with terrorists

Students about to have breakfast in the evening!!

who is this journalist please.

Some people are making serious money from this war,that's why it will take a very long time for it to end,the govt isn't sincere in fighting the war holistically, get the sponsors of BH that's what they are suppose to be doing else we will continue fighting this way for some years to come,I feel for those kids and their parents.

And we keep playing politics with human lives.

Let the games continue.

Nigerians are just lab rat in the hands of this politicians.... awon scientist

Nigeria has a long way to go
Religion, tribal and political sentiments are holding us down.
As far as am concerned, until we stop adding the above-mentioned sentiments to problems,we are not ready to move forward.

School kids were kidnapped and we are busy shouting PDP and APC, Muslim and Christian's, Hausa and nonHausa.

Why not let's attack this from the angle of criminality, even if it is possible motivated criminality, but your self in the position of their families and have some empathy.

Yea yea... Giving dem NGOs a place to spend their hard currencies. We all know some are benefiting from all these shenanigans. Mtcheeew

Now they will blame PDP.
And you will tell us Boko Haram have been defeated

Yahoo yahoo govt

Boko Haram has been technically defeated.

Sai burantashi

I join the families of the abducted girls in prayer. I wish no harm will befall them for the sake of their loved ones.

It's still a southerner that will start fighting tooth and nail to mount pressure on the government to secure their release.
God help us.

Boko Haram was technically defeated, before they were completely defeated but, they keep on striking visibly. Which way Nigeria?

,Before 2018 they told us that PDP is Boko Haram, now should we assume that APC, is Boko Haram? APC, should stop this movie and release the innocent girls. Dem no dey, kidnap boys. only girls

My only pain is that these childrens are innocent, why cant bokoharam target the northern elite, poor children and buhari and his apc governors are not saying anything abt it, but when yusuf his son had an accident all the apc governors went into fasting

The truth is that boko haram have come to stay since government pay them huge sum of money in exchange of kidnapped victims and i believe is still those niggaz at the top that benefits from all this ransom that are been paid.this line also caught my attention :-XSome weeks ago, military presence disappeared from a nearby checkpoint infact the northern elites know what they are doing with this boko haram.

Same with Chibok..

Seems the Army takes bribe to leave soft spots vulnerable for these vampires.

I can only imagine the horror these innocent kids are facing cos we have a failure as President.

The only good news is the love
I saw up there.

May God help us as parents and citizens of this country!! Someone moved their security post few days to this incidence. They came with fleets of vehicle in military camouflage, unnoticed?
I weep for the young ones caught in the crossfire of Nigerian failed politics. May God rescue them.

The only good news is the love
I saw up there.
It bowed the heart of the insurgent
and made him have compassion - on
a wounded victim.
Love saved those two.

Love can turn the world.

Even a fly is not safe in this country

In a time of war there must be casualties and drastic situations call for drastic measures. IS was flushed out of Iraq in less than a year, and the price paid was heavy in terms of human casualties who were literally living on borrowed time based on their conditions. It's time to take the high road and put an end to this in anyway possible but it would be worth the sacrifice cos if we continue to go on this same path, we would continue funding the greed of a few at the detriment of the majority

"Auwal said the attack confirmed fears, as for a very long time there has been no security personnel attached to the school. “Some weeks ago, military presence disappeared from a nearby checkpoint. I believe the insurgents must have been monitoring that.”



Buhari withdrew the military at the nearby checkpoint claiming to have defeated Boko Haram to score cheap political point. Buhari is a walking corpse.