A student of Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, Faiza Mohammed vowed not to return to school in the aftermath of a Boko Haram raid on the school on Tuesday.
At least 94 girls were said to have been kidnapped by the insurgents during the raid, similar to the Chibok school raid of April 2014 in which over 200 girls were kidnapped from Governnment Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State.
The Nigerian Army has since debunked the rumours of the kidnap and launched an operation to recover the girls from nearby bushes where they escaped to in order to evade kidnap by the insurgents.
Speaking to The Nation, Mohammed vowed not to return to school unless the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai mans the school gate.
Giving a graphic account of the student’s ordeal, she said one of her classmates who ran into the bush to avoid capture was bitten by snakes.
Mohammed added that some broke their legs in the ensuing confusion.
She said, “Our teachers tried to keep us together. They tried their best to control us not to scatter into the bush but some stubborn students started jumping the fence to run into the bush. There were some of us that hid in nearby houses from the school.”
She further praised the efforts of the school’s Vice Principals for their courage as they monitored the Boko Haram insurgents’ movement around the school.
Mohammed said, “I told my mother that I will not go back to that school again, except Buratai is the gateman. But my sister’s daughter told me that my demands are impossible because Gen. Buratai cannot come down to Dapchi to become gateman in my school. What I simply want is for government to provide for us enough security.
“Because of what my sister said, I will go back but if I see no security, I will just come back and study at home and write my final exams and my JAMB.”