Yobe attack: Many school girls were taken by Boko Haram -Escapee reveals

Aishatu Abdullahi, one of the schoolgirls that escaped Boko Haram’s Monday attack on Dapchi town of Yobe State, has said some of the girls were abducted.

 

According to her, not all the girls escaped the armed insurgents’ attack.

The Police in Yobe state on Tuesday disclosed that no life was lost in yesterday’s attack on Government Girls’ Secondary School, GGSS, Dapchi, in Bursari LGA of Yobe state, by suspected members of the Boko Haram sect.

The Yobe state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abdulmaliki Sumonu revealed that there has so far not been any report of abduction of any of the girls in the school.

The insurgents had attacked the town on Monday and carted away foodstuffs at the College, while firing sporadically forcing staff and students to flee for safety.

The traumatised school girl told Premium Times that she saw some of the girls being whisked away by the armed men.

Aishatu, who spoke in Hausa said: “My name is Aishatu Abdullahi. I am a Senior Secondary (SS) student of GGSS Dapchi.

“I was in the school when the Boko Haram insurgents came at exactly the time we were preparing to break our usual Monday fast. They were shooting guns and everyone was confused; then we started running helter skelter but they were able to. We saw some people pushing some of the students to enter their vehicles.

“There were no soldiers at the time of the invasion. It was later after the principal placed a call that some soldiers came and then we began to see helicopter hovering around the village.

”We were in the mosque when the Boko Haram gunmen came into the town. According to the accounts of some of my mates, the Boko Haram told those that were caught in the mosque to sit on the floor, including our teachers. One of our teacher was injured in his leg and hand – I don’t know if it was from gunshot. We don’t know what later happened, the gunmen later left the people in the mosque.

“They came in three trucks. But they didn’t cart away food from our store as claimed.

“Some of the other schoolgirls ran with some of our teachers to a house near the school. We saw the women in the house running away, but we had to enter and hide inside the house. All of us that escaped including our school principal, the vice principal and some other teachers stayed in the deserted house till morning.

”I cannot say how many of us (were involved) but I know that our game master was able to escape with about 60 students into the bush.

“Many students cannot be accounted for till this moment, some classes are empty, some classes had less than 15 students; some said ten could not be accounted for; mostly all of the classes have missing students.

“Many of us are traumatised; many were even fainting upon hearing any unusual sounds due to the experience.

”The school has given us one week to go home for a break; but in all honesty, I am not willing to come back here because we are scared of what could happen to us in the future.”