President Muhammadu Buhari has described the abduction of some students from the Government Girls Technical College, Dapchi, in Yobe State as a national disaster.
The President, however, gave the assurance that no effort would be spared by the Federal Government to rescue the girls and bring succour to their families.
He gave the assurance in a statement issued on Friday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu.
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“The entire country stands as one with the girls’ families, the government and the people of Yobe State,” President Buhari said.
“This is a national disaster. We are sorry that this could have happened and share your pain. We pray that our gallant armed forces will locate and safely return your missing family members.”
The President explained that after he received the news of the incident, he immediately dispatched a delegation on a fact-finding visit to the town and ordered security agencies to deploy in full and ensure that all the girls were returned safely.
He added that the Federal Government would send more troops and surveillance aircraft to keep an eye on all movements in the entire territory on a 24-hour basis, to ensure that all the missing girls are found.
President Buhari, who said it was devastating that the local authorities could not account for all the missing students, vowed that the attackers of the school would be arrested and made to face justice.
Suspected Boko Haram terrorists had stormed the school on Monday and forcefully took away some girls while others were said to have fled into the bush.
However, there were conflicting figures of the abducted girls while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) led government of being insensitive to the plight of Nigerians.
“Government’s visiting team headed by the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, only had a whistle stop at the Dapchi school and made no effort to interface or even commiserate with community leaders and parents of the abducted girls, while completely shutting out the media. This only further confirms APC’s insensitivity to the plight of Nigerians,” the party said in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary Kola Ologbondiyan.
