Borno Governor, Kashim Shettima
“The Borno state government also refused to relocate the students from Chibok to safer places like Maiduguri.”
#BringbackOurGirls#
It takes more than nine months to conceive and deliver a baby.
Mothers go through pains bringing-forth future leaders,but those who abduct our girls do not care to consider the travails of our women for a sec.
definitely,there are sponsors. may god unveil your hidden faces.
*** Breaking News*******
Read this:
The kidnap of over 250 schoolgirls in Chibok may not have occurred if
the Borno State Government had heeded the advice of an examination
body, fresh facts have emerged.
Aware of the poor security situation in Borno and worried about the
safety of students, the West African Examination Council, WAEC, declined
to conduct its Senior School Certificate Examination in unsafe parts of
Borno, including Chibok.
But that was until the state governor, Kashim Shettima, assured of adequate security measures, an official has said.
The head of WAEC’s National Office in Nigeria, Charles Eguridu,
stated this on Friday night in Abuja while answering questions from
several women including First Lady Patience Jonathan, wives of state
governors, female legislators at federal and state levels, and leaders
of various women organizations.
The Borno State Commissioner of Women Affairs, Inna Galadima, stood in for the wife of the Borno Governor, Nana Shettima.
The event was organised by Mrs. Jonathan at the First Lady’s conference room, Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Mr. Eguridu said WAEC was initially reluctant to conduct its
examination in Chibok and other troubled areas of the north-east because
of the security challenges but had to buckle when Mr. Shettima assured
the Council, in writing, that adequate security would be provided.
“Following the previous experience, we were afraid to go to the
North-East this year, yet we risked it and asked for extra security
through the Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike,” the official said. “We
also asked the various state governments to relocate all the centres to
the state capitals where there would be adequate security.”
“The three governors did not respond to our request but instead said
they had made adequate security arrangements. The Borno state government
also refused to relocate the students from Chibok to safer places like
Maiduguri,” Mr. Eguridu told the women on Friday.
The WAEC official reportedly tendered the letters written to the governors of Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe to prove his claim.
He also told the women that another factor that influenced WAEC’s
decision to ask that all centres be moved to the state capitals was the
death of three of its staff while conducting a similar examination in a
school along the Yola-Maiduguri road, last year.
Schools in Borno had been shut following the various attacks by the extremist Boko Haram sect.
PREMIUM TIMES had reported how the state government, in a bid to
ensure its students do not miss the SSCE examinations, asked final year
secondary school students to resume studies.
The Borno governor, who initially declined transferring the final
year students from centres in remote areas like Chibok to the state
capital, finally agreed to do so after the kidnap, Mr. Eguridu said.
“Borno state government only agreed to relocate the remaining 189 pupils after the abduction of the girls,” he said.
The Borno Government is yet to react to WAEC’s claim. The Borno
Education Commissioner, Musa Inuwa Kubo, did not answer or return calls
made to his phone and was yet to reply to a text message enquiry as at
the time of publishing this report.
The actual student figure
The WAEC boss also provided what appears the clearest clarification yet
of the number of students in the Chibok school before the April 14
kidnap.
“Overall, 530 students registered for WAEC at the Chibok centre, 135 males and 395 girls,” the official said.
Mr. Eguridu provided the bio data, including photographs of all the 530 students that registered at the Chibok centre.
The centre was the Government Secondary School, Chibok, and was used
as centre by both the students of the school and those of smaller
villages in Chibok Local Government.
The actual number of girls still with the kidnappers is yet to be
ascertained, although the school, the state government and the police
all gave figures above 200.
About 50 of the girls initially declared missing have been reunited
with their families with many of those escaping from their abductors.
Although the school is a mixed school, boarding facilities are only
available for girls; which explains why they were the only ones in the
dormitory when the suspected Boko Haram members arrived on the night of
April 14.
To be able to ascertain the actual number of girls in the dormitory
when the kidnap occurred and the number of girls still missing, the
women, at the end of their meeting, resolved to invite all those
involved in the administration of the school to Abuja to explain what
actually happened.
Women vow more action
While speaking after the meeting, Mrs. Jonathan vowed to do everything possible to ensure the release of the girls.
“If they don’t release our girls, then they should be ready to kidnap me,” she said.
“If after three days the children are not released, we shall march to
Borno. We shall march to Borno Governor, then to Senate President,
David Mark, and the President of this country to tell them the truth,”
Mrs. Jonathan said.
In a communique at the end of their deliberations, the women said
they would do all within their powers to ensure that the girls are
rescued from their abductors.
In the communiqué, the women stated:
“For us to provide the necessary solution, there are pertinent questions that we must ask and these include the followings:
“We are asking these questions so as not to rely on the rumours
flying around. So we want to do a thorough job as women and concerned
mothers.
“When we are through with these efforts, we may need to approach our
elders in the north, the National Assembly and all those concerned to
help us put an end to the killing of our husbands, our children and our
people.
“We heard that all federal schools were closed in the state, but the
Chibok school, which is a state school. Why will a state school be
opened without providing adequate security while all other schools were
closed?
“We also heard that WAEC was conducting exams when the students were
abducted, so this meeting resolved that there will be a committee to be
Chaired by the Borno State Governor’s wife.”
The women said members of the committee will include the wife of the
senator representing the senatorial zone where Chibok is located, the
wife of the member representing Chibok federal constituency, wife of the
Chibok local government chairman, wife of the minister representing
Borno State, and wife of the Chibok Village head.
The committee is expected to come along with the Chibok school
principal, the security guard at the school, at least two teachers from
the school, two teachers invigilating the WAEC examinations in the
school, two matrons, as well as chairman and secretary of the school’s
Parents Teachers Association.
The committee is also expected to come along with two parents whose
children are still missing, two parents whose children escaped from the
Boko Haram insurgents and two students that managed to escape, whose
identity would be protected by the women.
The school principal was also asked to appear with the school’s register and the passport pictures of each of the missing girls.
“We also want to see the Chairman of Chibok Local Government, the
Borno State Commissioner for Education, the WAEC Registrar, the Borno
State Police Commissioner, and the Divisional Police Officer DPO of
Chibok0”, the women said.
The women, at the Friday night meeting, also resolved to take more actions if the girls are not found.
“If the girls are not found by Sunday night, then we shall go to the
Governor of Borno State first, the Senate President and later the
President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, led by the Mother of the
Nation, Dame Patience Jonathan,” they said.
The women’s meeting continues on Sunday by 4:00 p.m.
