Makarfi: Abduction of Chibok Girls Should Have Necessitated Tight Security in North-east Schools

John Shiklam in Kaduna

Former National Caretaker Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ahmed Makarfi, has said the federal government ought to have tightened security around schools in the North-east after the abduction of Chibok schoolgirls.

Lamenting over the 94 girls declared missing on last Tuesday after t attack on Government Girls Science Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State by Boko Haram insurgents, Makarfi said the experience of Chibok and other abductions should to have necessitated the tightening of the security architecture around schools in that area, “since it has been shown on more than one occasion that they easily fall prey to the Boko Haram insurgents.”

Yobe State Commissioner for Education, Alhaji Mohammed Lamin, however disclosed on Wednesday that 48 of the 94 missing girls had returned to the school while 48 were being searched by the team set up by the state government.

Makarfi in the statement signed by his spokesman, Mukhtar Sirajo, said he was deeply pained by the news of the invasion of school.
“Reports have it that up till yesterday (Tuesday) about 94 of the girls could not be accounted for.
“The Senator’s heart goes to the parents of the girls who have not been accounted for, for the trauma we are all going through at the moment, as well as the entire students and their teachers for the harrowing experience the invasion had subjected them to” the statement said.

The former Kaduna state governor called on the authorities to “ensure that no time is wasted in searching for and rescuing the girls at whatever cost, so that we don’t end up with another Chibok on our hands.”

According to the statement, “Senator Makarfi firmly believes that the experience of Chibok and other abductions ought to have necessitated the tightening of the security architecture around schools in that area, since it has been shown on more than one occasion that they easily fall prey to the insurgents.”

He urged the authorities as well as the armed forces “to remain conscious of the fact that until every single inch of our territory is rid of Boko Haram control and people are free to engage in their various legitimate endeavours, “we cannot be said to be out of the woods.”

He further appealed to Nigerians to continue to pray to God Almighty to guide the nation’s armed forces and the government as they grapple with this and other challenges.