Following Thursday’s directive by the National Security Council for the military to rescue pupils of the Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, abducted by Boko Haram insurgents, there are indications that the Federal Government has met with security chiefs in neighbouring countries in a bid to rescue the abducted girls.
Saturday PUNCH investigation in Abuja on Friday showed that as part of the search for the girls, the office of the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki, had been coordinating the meetings with the security advisers of the neighbouring countries.
A credible security source said that the NSA and heads of immigration and customs in Nigeria had earlier met with their counterparts in Cameroon, Benin Republic, Niger and Chad.
The source said, “The office of the National Security Adviser has been working on the issue of getting our neighbours’ cooperation on the issue of the release of the abducted girls.
“And one thing about these meetings is that the men of the Nigeria Customs Service are involved and also their counterparts from Immigration. So the issue of collaboration with our neighbours is being taken very seriously.”
It was gathered that although the kidnappers were still within Nigeria, the meetings with security chiefs in these countries were aimed at seeking their cooperation in case the insurgents eventually sneak out of Nigeria.
The security source, who confided in one of our correspondents, said, “From all indications, the girls and their abductors are still within Nigeria. We have told our neighbours to be on the alert, if eventually they (Boko Haram members) take the pupils across our borders.”
The suspected insurgents had stormed the school from 9 pm to 3 am and carted away the girls, who were in school to take the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination.
Although the total number of the abducted girls was initially put at 129, the figure has since changed as the Principal of the school, Mrs. Asabe Kwambura, claimed that a total number of 230 students were abducted.
Kwabura told the BBC that 40 of the girls escaped from the kidnappers. She also said that the girls escaped on their own as none of them was rescued by the military.
Also, the Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Kassim Shettima, said during a visit to Chibok on Monday, that a total of 52 girls had escaped from the kidnappers with the escape of some of the abducted students at the weekend.
The military had retracted an earlier statement on April 17 that 121 out of a total of 129 abducted girls had been released following protests by the school principal and the Borno State Government who accused the military of deceiving Nigerians.
The Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, in an electronic mail on Wednesday, said that the military had intensified the search for the abducted pupils.
Commenting on the abduction of the girls, a retired Commissioner of Police, Lawrence Alobi, said that the approach to tackling terrorism in the country should be multi-dimensional, stressing the need for all Nigerians to rise up to the challenge.
Alobi advised the government to close the nation’s borders until terrorism had been combated, noting that former President Olusegun Obasanjo once shut the borders for a security operation which he (Alobi) successfully coordinated.
The security expert frowned on the blame game between the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress on the terrorist attacks in the country, insisting that this was wrong. According to him, every Nigerian, from the traditional rulers, political leaders to the youth should rise up in unison against terrorists.
He said, “Terrorism is an attack against Nigerians and everyone should rise in unison against it. Northern leaders should rise as a group and condemn it, after all, the perpetrators are from the north and they are destroying the economy of the region.
“You can’t talk with the faceless people behind this problem because they have refused to come forward for dialogue.’’
Commenting on the plan by the parents of the abducted girls to search the Sambisa forest for their children, the FCT Coordinator, Women and Family Advancement Initiative, Chizaram Madu, said it was a dangerous idea as the terrorists might attack the parents and compound the situation.
She advised that intermediaries should be sent to the abductors to plead with them to release the girls.
Madu observed that the CCTV component of the National Public Security Communications System, which would have assisted in combating the security challenge in the country, was sabotaged and the government had not held anyone responsible.
She said, “I don’t support women going to the forest in search of the girls because it is dangerous. Sending intermediaries to the insurgents is a better option because going to the bush poses a serious risk to the parents.
“I think the approach to the security challenge is being hampered by corruption. The CCTV which gulped billions of naira is not working and nobody is taking responsibility for it. I heard that the FCT minister said he knew nothing about the project, so who is in charge of the project and why has the government not held anyone responsible for the failed project?”
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