…asks both security agencies to halt blame game
By Levinus Nwabughiogu
ABUJA – Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has said that the country would hold the Army and Police responsible for the abduction of 110 Dapchi schoolgirls in Yobe State.

Hassana Mohammed, 13, who scaled a fence to escape an alleged Boko Haram attack on her Government Girls Science and Technical College, stands outside her home in Dapchi, Nigeria, on February 22, 2018.
Anger erupted in a town in remote northeast Nigeria on February 22 after officials fumbled to account for scores of schoolgirls from the college who locals say have been kidnapped by Boko Haram jihadists. Police said on February 21 that 111 girls from the college were unaccounted for following a jihadist raid late on February 19. Hours later, Abdullahi Bego, spokesman for Yobe state governor Ibrahim Gaidam, said “some of the girls” had been rescued by troops “from the terrorists who abducted them”. But on a visit to Dapchi on Thursday, Gaidam appeared to question whether there had been any abduction. / AFP PHOTO /

He also asked the security agencies to take responsibility for failing to stop the abduction, adding that the buck passing between the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police Force was unacceptable.

In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Hassan Turaki, Dogara said rather than trading blames, the various security agencies should strengthen inter-agency collaboration and intensify efforts towards rescuing the girls.

“The statements credited to the Army and the Police in which they tried to exonerate themselves from any culpability in the unfortunate and embarrassing abduction of innocent girls from their school in Dapchi , Yobe State, is highly condemnable.

“This is unacceptable and the House of Representatives, and indeed Nigerians, will hold the security agencies responsible. They all bear responsibility for this unfortunate incident.

“The traumatic experience of the Chibok abduction which is still fresh in our minds should have serve as a warning signal to security agencies to provide adequate security protection to all schools in the North East.

“I want to use this medium to console the parents of the abducted girls and the entire Dapchi community over this unfortunate incident.

“I also urge all Nigerians and people of goodwill from all over to pray for the safe return of the girls”.