Ali Abare, Gombe

Contrary to earlier claims that some of the girls believed to have been abducted by members of Boko Haram Monday night at the Government Girls Science Technical College (GGSTC) Dapchi, Yobe State, have been rescued, parents of the girls insist their daughters are still missing.

A parent whose two daughters are among those missing, Modu B Goniri, 45, a Personal Assistant to the Yobe State Commissioner of Works, denied reports that some of the girls have been rescued.

Goniri was categorical that about 94 school girls are still missing.

His daughters, Aisha Modu, 18, and Falmata Modu, 17, both students of SSSII, he says are among the missing.

“It’s not true that some girls were rescued. About 94 of the girls are still missing, including two of my daughters,” Modu said.

He denied that the Nigerian Military rescued some girls. Modu equally denied that 48 of the girls turned up the following morning after Boko Haram attacked the school.

“No one can actually say the whereabouts of the girls. They have disappeared completely without any trace,” Modu said.  

He added that Yobe State Governor Ibrahim Geidam addressed distraught parents Thursday afternoon at the premises of the school, but could not confirm the whereabouts of the girls or whether they were rescued.

Abdullahi Bego, spokesperson to Governor Geidam, had in a statement Wednesday night said troops had rescued some of the girls reportedly abducted by Boko Haram.

Bego put the number of girls rescued in the operation at 50.

“The Yobe State Government hereby informs the public that some of the girls at Government Girls Science Technical College (GGSTC), whose school was attacked by Boko Haram terrorists last Monday, have been rescued by gallant officers and men of the Nigerian Army from the terrorists who abducted them,” the statement said. Claiming further that “the rescued girls are now in the custody of the Nigerian Army.”