Boko Haram: 10 More Abducted School Girls Escape

SAN FRANCISCO, April 16, (THEWILL) â€' In what appeared as a dangerous but bold move on Wednesday, 10 out of the over 100 students abducted from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, have escaped from their Boko Haram captors thus bringing the total number of those who escaped to 14. Their escape followed an earlier move by four of the kidnapped girls who escaped earlier on Tuesday morning when they jumped out of the vehicle conveying them to the camp of their captors.

The Borno State governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, who disclosed this said the abducted girls who were asked to prepare food for the insurgents took the advantage of washing plates at a corner to make good their escape.

The governor, who had earlier promised to offer a N50 million reward to anyone with information that may lead to the freedom of the abducted school girls, said his Administration would do everything to reunite the girls with their family.

Explaining that he has been in constant touch with the principal of the school and the leaders of Chibok town in the the search for the students, Shettima said: 'The commissioner of education has been in constant touch with the school and the people of the town. I have also been speaking to the principal and the district head of Chibok on an hourly basis.'

Shettima said though he did not have the information on the exact number of abducted students, the school has opened a register for parents to come and register their missing wards, pointing out that so far, parents have reported 50 missing students.

The governor said he would have gone to Chibok but was advised against it by the security operatives .

'I want to go to Chibok but was advised against it because of military operations going on around there,' the governor said, adding that the time calls for sober reflection and should not be used for any blame game blame.

Shettima however insisted that everybody must work towards rescuing the students and reuniting them with their family.

'I want to appreciate the efforts of the military in the task of bringing peace back to the state,' he said, stressing that he would not rest of his oars until all the abducted students are reunited with their families.

Describing the students' abduction as unfortunate, he sad the state had envisaged something like this might happen and had put in place strategies to checkmate it.

He listed one of such measures to include the premature closure of schools about two weeks ago, saying his government had shut down schools in the state, knowing full well that they might strike at the schools.

He disclosed that the state government had to bring the students to a central and secured place to write their WAEC/SSCE examination. According to Shettima, at various times when information about an impending attack was received, such schools were also closed down.

'We have had cause to close down prematurely the schools in the state. Students of GSS Konduga were rescued on the day Konduga was attacked. We congregated all the students in a central place. Students were moved from Mafa to Maiduguri to prevent been attacked,' he said.

Lamenting the abduction of the female students of at Chibok, he sad since the town is largely a Christian community, nobody thought it would be attacked by the insurgents, more so as assurance of safety was received .

'The task before us is how to get the students back to their respective family,'he said, stressing that the crisis would not 'last forever and we are sure we will pass through this phase.'