The Nigerian military has reportedly dispelled the claim that the 110 missing Dapchi schoolgirls are in Yobe state, Northeast Nigeria. The girls have not been accounted for since 19 February, 2017, when terror group Boko Haram attacked their school, Government Girls Science Technical College in Dapchi area of the state.
A high-ranking officer in the military, according to a national daily, The Nation, on Sunday described Hon. Goni Bukar and other politicians and activists speaking on the whereabouts of the girls and the identity of their abductors as “a bunch of confusionists.” Bukar is representing Yunusari/Gaidam Federal Constituency.
The lawmaker had said on Thursday that he could lead the soldiers to their abductors’ hideout if a military uniform was given to him.
“The girls are within Yobe. We have an idea that they are in Bulabulin, Yunusari Local Government. The military is aware that Boko Haram has been in that place for over four years. They live in that place like their own city,” he said.
But the military officer, who pleaded for anonymity, according to the paper, said: “If they know where the girls are, they know what to do, instead of staying somewhere in Damaturu or Abuja and claiming that the girls are somewhere within Yobe State or anywhere else,” the paper quoted the military source as saying.
“This is how some of these politicians will stay in Abuja and will be granting interviews to you media people, claiming this and that, yet they are not anywhere near their constituencies.
“I have been in Maiduguri since Tuesday and all the nation’s top military and security brass have been in Maiduguri and Yobe axis, pursuing all the leads. The investigations are not only on-going, painstaking and multi-dimensional, but what I can tell you now is that we are not leaving any stone unturned.”
According to the report, the top official urged Nigerians to be patient with the military in their resolve to bring the girls back home.
