How 5 Of Our Students Died On The Day Of The Attack - Released Dapchi Schoolgirl Reveals

According to a Vanguard report, one of the  students of Government Girls Technical Science College, Dapchi, Yobe State, identified as Fasima, said yesterday that some of their colleagues died of exhaustion on the day of the attack by Boko Haram, following the manner they were crammed into the vehicles that took them away.

 

There was wild jubilation in Dapchi, yesterday, as 104 of the 110 schoolgirls abducted by the terrorist group were released by the insurgents and returned home safely.

 

The insurgents, believed to be the Mamman Nur-led faction, transported the girls back to Dapchi in the early hours of yesterday in about nine vehicles.

 

Unfortunately, one of the abducted school girls, names withheld, was not freed as the insurgents insisted they took her back to their hideouts because she refused to denounce her faith (Christianity) and be converted to Islam.

 

The girls’ release coincided with a solidarity visit of parents of the abducted Chibok girls who were in Dapchi yesterday.

 

A security source said: “Boko Haram militants drove into Dapchi and dropped off the girls in the heart of the town and went back with no shot fired at them. We were asked to leave our camp which is the same route that Boko Haram followed to drop off the girls.”

 

Residents said before taking them out of Dapchi to Abuja, via Maiduguri, the girls received medical treatment at the General Hospital in Dapchi.

 

“The girls are looking terrible. Most of them are on drip because they were very exhausted and underfed,“ a medical personnel at the hospital said.

 

Speaking on the number of girls released, another security source said some of the parents took their children away immediately Boko Haram dropped them.

 

“We are having challenges getting the exact number of girls released because some of the parents came and took their children away immediately Boko Haram came and dropped them off. We are trying to retrieve some of the girls now but it is difficult,” he stated.

 

But one of the released girls, who gave her name simply as Fasima, confirmed that two of her colleagues, Aisha and Maimuna, were among those who died as a result of suffocation in one of the vehicles conveying them to the insurgents’ hideouts on the day of the abduction.

 

“We are now set to go to Dapchi General Hospital for medical check up please,” Fasima hurriedly said and cut off the interview with Vanguard.

 

According to Vanguard, it was reliably gathered that Governor Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe is not in the country, as he is reported to be at Lincoln University College of Malaysia, Petaling Jaya, near Kuala Lumpur, to receive a Gold Merit Award conferred on him for working hard to improve education and security in Yobe State, despite the ongoing six-year old Boko Haram insurgency in the state.

 

The release of the schoolgirls was initially confirmed by Abdullahi Kawi, father of Aisha Abdullahi of JSS 2 and Mustapha Mohammed Dapchi, Vice Chairman, Youth Assembly of Nigeria (YAN), Yobe State chapter, whose house is located around the school.

 

He said his friend called him to confirm that one of the girls was dropped off at Gumsa yesterday night, “while the others who were on their way to Dapchi arrived this morning” (yesterday).

 

However, Mustapha Dapchi, said: “I saw them dropped at the town’s motor park, near the Main Market and the insurgents who brought them in a convoy of about nine vehicles told them to go back to their respective houses.”

 

Another resident, Mallam Usman Ali, who lives near the motor park, where the schoolgirls were dropped, said: “The insurgents were very friendly as they told residents that they have to return back the girls and reunite with their parents, having realized that 99% of the schoolgirls are Muslims and most of them were fasting on the day of the attack.

“Only one of the girls who refused to be converted to Islam, will not be freed as they will go back with her,” Ali quoted one of the insurgents who addressed some of the residents.