THE MISTAKE I MADE, BY PRINCIPAL – Nigerian Tribune

School Principal, Assoc. Chairman Debunk Military’s Claim On Missing Girls – Channels TV

Nigeria Defense Ministry Retracts Report On Release Of 121 School Girls – Channels TV

Confusion over missing Nigeria schoolgirls – AL JAZEERA

The mistake I made, by Principal – Nigerian Tribune

THE Associated Press reported on Thursday how the principal of the Government Secondary School, Asabe Kwambura, mistakenly handed over 129 schoolgirls to Boko Haram gunmen, who posed as military men.

The story was tweeted by Jon Gambrel on his twitter handle @jongambrell/AP around noon on Thursday.

The principal said,  “the insurgents arrived after midnight at her Government Girls’ Secondary School, wearing military fatigues and posing as soldiers. She said she believed them when they told her that they needed to move the girls for their own safety. So, she allowed the extremists posing as soldiers to load the students on to the back of a truck.

“It was only as the armed men were leaving, and started shooting, that she realised her mistake. The militants killed a soldier and a police officer guarding the school,” she said.

Meanwhile, there is confusion over the status of the girls said to have been rescued by the military on Wednesday. The school principal told Associated Press that the students were yet to be found.

“Up till now, we are still waiting and praying for the safe return of the students , the security people, especially the vigilance groups and the well-meaning volunteers of Gwoza are still out searching for them. The military people, too, are in the bush searching,” the principal, Asabe Kwambura, told The Associated Press by telephone.

She said only 14 of the 129 girls and young women kidnapped by gunmen before dawn Tuesday had returned to Chibok town – four who jumped from the back of a truck and 10 who escaped into the bush when their abductors asked them to cook a meal.

Major  General Chris Olukolade, the Defence Ministry spokesman, had in a statement late Wednesday night, said that  all but eight of the students had been accounted for. “The others have been freed this evening,” he said. He also said security forces had captured one of the abductors.

Yesterday, the Borno State Commissioner for Education, Musa Inuwa Kubo, went to Chibok and took custody of 30 of the girls.

The commissioner said , “I’m right at the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, the scene of the unfortunate abduction. At the moment ,we have taken custody of 30 girls. There is an increase of 16 students whose parents returned them to school after they ran home on the day of the attack.

“We had made announcements and calling on parents whose children and wards ran home. The aim is for us to take proper account of our 129 students, who were at the hostel on the day of that unfortunate attack.

 “ By our records of 129 students being at the hostel at the time of that unfortunate incident, we are expecting the return of about 99 students, who might be among those said to have been rescued by the military.

“My self, the principal of the school, Asabe Kwambura, parents, other students and residents are awaiting the return of our students. We have no reason to doubt or contradict Wednesday’s  announcement by the Defence Headquarters, given the fact that the military personnel are those leading the search and rescue operations along with civilian volunteers.

The military, in a statement by Major-General Chris Olukolade, said the controversy that had been generated around the efforts at securing the lives of the abducted students of Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok was unfortunate.

“The ongoing frantic efforts of security forces along with vigilante groups including hunters working to locate and free the abducted students had, continued to be keenly monitored at the Operation Centre of the Defence and Army Headquarters as regular progress reports are being received from troops on the ground.

 In this regard, a report was filed in from the field indicating that a major breakthrough had been recorded in the search.  There was no reason to doubt this official channel, hence the information was released to the public immediately.  Surprisingly however, the school principal, one of the sources quoted in the report has denied all that was attributed to her for whatever reasons.   This is an unfortunate development indeed, yet the Defence Headquarters would not want to join issues with anyone.

“It has to be reaffirmed, however, that the report forwarded to the public on this issue was in good faith and not intended to deceive the public as is being interpreted following the denials by the School principal and Government of Borno State.  Like all other citizens, the military is deeply concerned to ensure that the students are safe and freed alive.  There is indeed no reason to play politics with the precious lives of the students.  The number of those still missing is not the issue now as the life of every Nigerian is very precious.”

School Principal, Assoc. Chairman Debunk Military’s Claim On Missing Girls – Channels TV

The Borno State Government, and the Principal of the school from which girls were abducted, have revealed that only 14 of the girls have been found.

This is contrary to claims made by the military on Wednesday night that it had rescued the girls and were hot on the track of the abductors, as most of the parents have said that many of the girls were still missing.

The school authority’s claim has also been backed up by the leadership of an organization made up of indigenes of the Chibok in Borno.

Addressing a news conference in Abuja, the Chairman of Kibaku Area Development Association, Mr Hosea Tsambido, said that only the abducted girls who escaped by their personal efforts have been reunited with their parents.

He said: “The girls were made to count themselves, giving a figure of 247. They were taken away after which the school was razed down completely.

“The terrorist left with the girls and their loot at about 3am on Tuesday the 15th April to an unknown destination. Since then, a lot of information in both print and electronic media have reached Nigerian public and the world at large that the girls had been rescued and that only 8 are still missing.

“Different sources are giving different figures of the number of girls rescued, which are not true.

“The most disturbing, however, is the statement credited to the Defense Headquarter as carried by most print media of 16th and 17th April 2014, that 121 of the girls have been rescued and that only 8 are still missing.

“This information is misleading, as neither the parents nor the school authority have seen their girls as at this press time.”

He went further to state that the anxiety generated by this “misleading information” had forced the local communities to mobilize themselves and move to Sambisa forests to search for the girls to complement the efforts of the military.

He noted that “out of the 247 girls known to have been abducted; only 14 girls who escaped through their personal efforts have returned to their parents.

“This is the true picture and we are appealing to Government to intensify the search and rescue efforts so that the girls can be reunited with their parents”, he concluded.

Nigeria Defense Ministry Retracts Report On Release Of 121 School Girls – Channels TV

—The manner in which information surrounding the release of girls kidnapped in a school in Chibok, Borno State is being handled has remained a source of confusion.

The military had made a categorical statement on Wednesday night that the Army had rescued the girls and were hot on the track of the abductors.

However, reports on Thursday evening seemed like the Nigerian Defence Ministry has retracted its statement that 121 of the girls have been released and re-united with their families and only were 8 still missing.

The Director, Defence Information, Major-General Chris Olukolade told Channels Television on Thursday evening that the military was not prepared to engage anyone or group in the figure debate.

He said that since the School Principal and State Government were aware of the figure of students missing, the military would rather defer to them on the matter.

The Army had also earlier claimed that one of the terrorist involved in the operation had been captured alive.

The assault on the all-female high school took place on Monday night.

Confusion over missing Nigeria schoolgirls – AL JAZEERA

A Nigerian school principal has denied reports from the military that most of the girls kidnapped from her school by gunmen were now safe, as the parents of those taken voiced anger over the conflicting claims.

The defence ministry and the government in Borno state, where the attack took place, have said that 129 girls were abducted by Boko Haram fighters from a secondary school in the Chibok area late on Monday.

Chris Olukolade, a defence spokesman, said on Wednesday that all but eight of the girls were safe, citing the principal of the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok.

“The report from the military is not true,” principal Asabe Kwambura told AFP news agency in Lagos on Thursday.

She said the information provided by Borno’s governor Kashim Shettima on Wednesday that only 14 girls had escaped their captors was “correct”.

The mass kidnap – which has sparked global outrage – came just hours after the deadliest attack ever in the capital Abuja, where a bomb blast also blamed on Boko Haram killed at least 75 people.

“For the military (which) is supposed to find and rescue our children to be spreading such lies shows that they have no intention of rescuing our girls,” said Lawan Zanna, a Chibok resident whose daughter was among those taken.

“It is the highest form of insult,” he added. “They said our girls have been freed… Bring them to us because they are yet to be reunited with us.”

‘Hopes shattered’

Boko Haram has repeatedly attacked schools and universities during an uprising that has killed thousands of people since 2009.

The group’s name loosely translates as “Western education is forbidden”.

Students have been massacred in their dormitories and bombs set off at university campuses, but the mass abduction specifically targeting girls is unprecedented.

Borno’s governor has offered a 50 million naira ($300,000) reward to anyone with information leading to the return of the schoolgirls.

Parents in Chibok swarmed the home of the area’s tribal chief on Thursday, demanding clarification after the military claim, residents said.

“The feeling that the military was in pursuit of the kidnappers kept hope alive among parents,” said one resident, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The dubious report that most of the children were now safe “has shattered that hope”, he said.

Gunmen stormed Chibok late Monday and torched several buildings before opening fire on security forces guarding the school.

Mounting criticism

They killed two guards, then forced their way inside, herding the girls on to trucks before driving away.

Three of the girls who escaped said they were taken to the Sambisa Forest part of Borno, an area where Boko Haram is known to have well-fortified camps.

The school attack and Monday’s bombing at a packed bus station on the outskirts of Abuja have underscored the serious threat the fighters pose to Africa’s most populous country and top economy.

President Goodluck Jonathan has summoned his security chiefs for a meeting on Thursday to review the unrest.

In a rare move, he also invited all of Nigeria’s 36 state governments to join a second security meeting later in the day.

Jonathan, who is grappling with an unprecedented crisis in his own party, has faced mounting criticism over what is perceived to be his failure to contain the Boko Haram threat.

The armed group has cost more than 1,500 lives already this year, according to AFP, the deadliest stretch in Boko Haram’s five-year uprising, which the group says is aimed at creating a strict Islamic state in Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north.