#Bringbackourgirls: Was Chibok"s Principal an accomplice in the girls abduction?

By Ehi Ekhator, Naija Center News

The abduction of more than 200 students of Government Secondary School in Chibok on April 14 has continue to attract different negative comments against the government of Nigeria while the school staff are flaunting themselves before the media, giving different statements to completely accuse the government of incompetency.

After the incident, the principal of the school, Asabe Kwambura granted an interview to Associated Press where she confessed that she was in the school when the insurgents arrived. She added that they told her they were military men who had come to rescue the girls from purported attack of Boko Haram, adding that she only realized her mistakes after she saw them shoot the security at the gates.

Read below for what she revealed to Associated Press.

Kwambura said the students were kidnapped because of a terrible mistake. She said the insurgents arrived after midnight at her Government Girls’ Secondary School wearing military fatigues and posing as soldiers — a common tactic used by the insurgents.  She said she believed them when they told her that they needed to move the girls for their own safety. So she allowed the extremists posing as soldiers to load the students on to the back of a truck.

 “Up till now we are still waiting and praying for the safe return of the students … the security people, especially the vigilantes and the well-meaning volunteers of Gwoza are still out searching for them. The military people, too, are in the bush searching,”

But speaking with Punch News on the 27 of April, the same Principal who had confessed being in the compound during the attacked issued a different statement, this time,  she alleged that she was not in the school on the day of the incident, she said she went to Maiduguri for a medical check up. When asked how she found out about the incident, she said she was called by her daughter who live with her in the staff lodge and escaped the abduction.

Below is her interview with Punch:

How did you find out that your pupils were missing?

When it happened, I was not in the school premises. I went to Maiduguri for a medical check up. I was called by my daughter around 11.30pm in the night. She told me that some insurgents were in the school and were trying to escape. That was how I heard. My daughter resides in my house, which is located inside the school. We were together in the house and I left her in the house before I went for the check up.

Did your daughter escape?

Yes, she was able to escape

How did she describe the attack to you?

She said the kidnappers went directly to the hostel and convinced the girls that they came to free them from insurgents. The students thought they were soldiers who had come to protect them. They were taken into the vehicles and it was too late when they discovered that they were not security men.

Was there any case of injury?

Those that jumped out of the lorry the insurgents took them away with are those that got some dislocation and bruises.

How many girls are back?

We have 43 girls now. But we still have about 200 missing.

What was your first response when you heard about the incident?

When they called me about the incident, I asked about the welfare of the pupils. My daughter told me that she did not hear anything about what happened to the pupils because everybody was running away. I called a member of staff and he told me the abductors were already in the bush. We continued calling each other and other people in town.

What kind of security did you have in the school before the incident?

We didn’t have any kind of security within the school.

Were you aware of the invasion of other schools in the state before the incident in your school?

Yes, they have attacked many schools.

Did you take any measure to beef up security in your school to prevent such occurrence?

Before this incident, we had (extra) security in the school, but the security was withdrawn after a year. This happened last year.

Was there any reason given for withdrawing the security in the school?

I don’t know.

How have you been able to manage the situation in the school?

There is nothing in the school again. Everything was burnt down by the insurgents.

But before that,

Her above statement was contrary to the one she granted

On the 3 of July, a Principal in Nasarawa State raised an alarm over a letter she received from suspected members of the sect, requesting for her cooperation to abduct her students without bloodshed.

Read here

Few days ago, members of the delegates on the ongoing National Conference also cried out concerning a letter received from the insurgents threatening to attack the conference.

Read here

It is almost a tradition that before Boko Haram carried out such a heavy attack, it alerts the concerned on their expectations. From Asabe Kwambura statements, it revealed discrepancy in the time and exact location during the attack. Meanwhile, some parents admitted receiving threats four hours before the actual attack.

 

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#Bringbackourgirls: Was Chibok"s Principal an accomplice in the girls abduction?