The Federal Government has set up a 12-member committee to unravel the circumstances surrounding the abduction of 110 students of the Government Girls’ Science and Technical College (GGSTC), Dapchi, Yobe State on Monday, February 19.
The probe committee, according to Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, will be inaugurated today in Abuja.
The committee, which is expected to submit its report on March 15, was given three terms of reference: to ascertain the circumstances surrounding the abduction of the girls; confirm the presence, composition, scale and disposition of security emplaced in Dapchi as well as in GGSTC before the incident and suggest measures that could lead to the location and rescue of the girls.
The committee, which was put together by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj-Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd), will be chaired by a military officer of the rank of Major General.
Other members of the committee will include one senior provost from each of the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Air Force; as well as the representatives of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA); Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA); Nigeria Police Force (NPF); Department of State Services (DSS); Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC); two representatives of the Yobe State Government and a representative of the Office of the National Security Adviser.
Also, the Federal Government has released the details of the 110 students kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists from Dapchi.
According to a statement released yesterday by the Information Minister, the Federal Government said the oldest among the girls are 18 years while the youngest are 11.
The statement, which was signed by the minister’s Special Adviser, Segun Adeyemi, disclosed that the names were handed over to the minister by Yobe State government.
“Out of the 110 missing girls, eight are in JSS1, 17 in JSS2, 12 in JSS3, 40 in SS1, 19 in SS2 and 14 in SS3,” the statement added.
The statement added that the list was verified by a 26-member screening committee that includes the Executive Secretary, State Teaching Service Board, Musa Abdulsalam; Director, Schools’ Management, Ministry of Education, Shuaibu Bulama; Principal of GGSTC, Adama Abdulkarim; the two Vice Principals, Ali Musa Mabu and Abdullahi Sule Lampo; Admission Officer, Bashir Ali Yerima, and the Form Masters for all the classes.
The minister further disclosed that the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar has relocated to Yobe State yesterday to personally superintend the search for the girls.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to show leadership by visiting Dapchi to get first-hand information on the kidnapped students.
PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said it was disheartening that while the parents of the abducted girls were in pains, the president and leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were busy planning for 2019 elections.
It added that if President Buhari heeds its advice, it will bridge the disconnect between him and Nigerians.
“President Buhari has completely reneged on his assurances, before his election, to be a father to all and to lead the fight against insurgency from the fronts.
“Nigerians are shocked that the presidential mandate of protecting lives has now been reduced to a cosmetic dispatching of ministers and persons with no knowledge of security on mere fact-finding missions, while machinery for proactive security measures are left unattended.
“Today, Nigerians are daily slaughtered and taken as captives because those who have the direct mandate to protect them are more interested in their ill-lucked 2019 re-election ambition while the citizens are left to whatever fate befell them.
“Painfully, Nigerians are yet to see any concrete action taken by the Buhari presidency to apprehend the perpetrators of the gruesome killings in Benue, Taraba, Zamfara, Adamawa, Borno, Plateau, Nasarawa and Yobe, among other states, where our citizens are being hacked down by marauders and insurgents,” the statement added.
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