Borno Can Only Account For 30 School Girls - Commissioner

Source: thewillnigeria.com

BEVERLY HILLS, CA, April 17, (THEWILL) â€' Thirty out of the 129 Borno school girls abducted from their hostel at the Government Girls College, Chibok on Monday by Boko Haram gunmen can be accounted for so far, the State Government said on Thursday, stressing that the remaining students may still be with the military.

The State Commissioner for Education, Comrade Musa Inuwa Kubo, who disclosed this said aside the 14 students who have earlier escaped from the insurgents, no other student has been rescued. He said the other 16 students that made the list to grow to 30 were those brought in by their parents.

The Commissioner said the government had requested that parents of final years students of the schools who ran home on the day of the day should bring them back to the school so as to get proper head count of the missing students.

'I am right at 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 called on parents whose children and wards ran to 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. You may recall that 14 students had earlier escaped from captivity as explained by our Governor, Kashim Shettima on Wednesday.

' 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.' He said.

According to the Commissioner, '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.

'We are very hopeful that perhaps, the freed students are safely with the military and being brought to us. We pray that not just all our students return in good health but also all the security agents and volunteers safely return in good health after a successful and patriotic rescue effort.'

The Commissioner however appealed to 'parents to remain prayerful and hopeful that by the grace of God all the students will return to us in good health.'

He stated further: 'On behalf of the Borno State Government, my ministry, staff and students of the affected school, parents and relations of affected students, I deeply appreciate the concern of all Nigerians and rest of the world for their solidarity and well wishes. I also thank the media for their very critical role as we look forward to overcoming this grieving experience.'