By ‘Dotun Akintomide
A parent, Modu B. Goniri, whose two daughters were among the girls missing from Government Girls’ Secondary School, Dapchi, has described the statement by the Yobe state government claiming 48 of the abducted girls have been rescued as false.
Goniri who is also the Personal Assistant to the Yobe State Commissioner of Works said his daughters; Aisha Modu, 18 and Falmata Modu, 17 both students of SSS II are among the missing girls.
According to a report by the Sun, Goniri stated that contrary to a figure reported Thursday morning that 48 of the girls have been accounted for, about 94 school girls are still at large.
“It’s not true that some girls were rescued. About 94 of the girls are still missing, including two of my daughters.
“No one can actually say the whereabouts of the girls, they have disappeared completely without any trace,” Modu said.
He denied reports that the Nigerian military rescued some girls.
He added that the Yobe State Governor, Ibrahim Geidam addressed distraught parents Thursday afternoon at the premises of the school but could not say the whereabouts of the girls or whether they were rescued.
“Governor Gaidam told us to keep praying that the girls should be found,” Goniri added.
Meanwhile, the Yobe Government has apologised for claiming that some of the abducted school girls at Government Girls College Dapchi had been rescued.
Abdullahi Bego, Director-General, Press Affairs to Yobe Governor, gave the apology on Thursday over the statement, which turned out to be untrue.
“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 Yobe State Government apologises for that.”
The statement said Gaidam solicited for more patience as “government and security agencies at all levels continued the work to address the unfortunate situation’’.
The governor had directed the Ministry of Education to work with the security agencies to establish the actual number of the girls still unaccounted for.
“You should contact parents and the community for possible information that could be useful in the investigation.
“Gov. Gaidam shares deeply and personally in the grief about the unfortunate event at the Girls’ College.
“Government will continue to do everything necessary in partnership with security agencies and the Federal Government to address the situation,’’ the statement added.
