14 more girls escape from Boko Haram abductors

Borno State Commissioner for Education, Inuwa Kubo, has said that 14 more students of Government Secondary School, Chibok, have escaped Boko Haram abductors.

The commisioner said this in Maiduguri on Friday.

He said, “I am glad to say that 14 more students have escaped from their abductors. Out of this number, three are currently with me at Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok; the scene of the unfortunate abduction, while Governor Kashim Shettima has confirmed to me today that 11 girls had escaped to a town along Damboa/Biu Road in Borno State after they escaped from captivity. The 11 girls were immediately moved from the location to other parts of the state to reconnect with their families. The remaining 33 students in Chibok have also been moved out of the school to different parts of the state to join their families. The steps were taken to safeguard them.

“Meanwhile, with this development, we have 44 out of our 129 students at the hostel on the day of attack on the school. This means that we have 85 students yet to join us. You may wish to recall that as at Thursday, we had 30 students returned. Out of that number, 14 escaped from their abductors while sixteen students were returned by their parents and guardians after they ran home on the day of the attack.

“The sixteen were not abducted. You may also remember what I said yesterday that we had made announcements and called on parents and guardians whose children and wards ran home to return them to the school so we could take proper account of our 129 students to know the number of those missing.”

Kubo expressed hope that the remaining 85 students would be found soon as intensive search and rescue efforts continue.

He acknowledged the efforts of security agencies and civilian volunteers taking part in the search.

According to him, this may have  put  pressure on the abductors and possibly contributed to the escape of 28 students from captivity.

He said, “We continuously pray that all our students return in good health as well as  all the security agents and volunteers.We are indeed grateful for the patriotic efforts being displayed by all those involved in the search and rescue operations.

“We once again call on parents and all sympathisers to remain prayerful and hopeful that by the grace of God all the students will safely return to school.

“I very well appreciate Nigerian and international media organisations for their most helpful support. I will keep updating any time there is something new which I hope will be positive and anytime soon.”