Global Outrage over Yobe Killings as FG Mulls Closure of Unity Schools in N’East, Articles | THISDAY LIVE

Global Outrage over Yobe Killings as FG Mulls Closure of Unity Schools in N’East

Supervising Minister of Education, Chief Nyesom Wike  

 

•Education ministry: 30 students were killed in FGC, six bodies unidentified

  • Senate c’ttee asks army chief to relocate to Maiduguri

By Our Correspondents 

The mindless killing of dozens of children of the Federal Government
College, Buni-Yadi in Yobe State, Tuesday has incurred the wrath of the
global community which Wednesday strongly condemned the massacre.

The incident in Yobe has also compelled the government to consider the
temporary closure of all its federal government colleges, also known as
unity schools, in the three states currently under emergency rule in
North-eastern Nigeria.

However, unity schools in Taraba, Gombe and Bauchi would not be affected, as the states have been relatively peaceful.

Security would also be beefed up in unity schools in all the six states to protect students and the facilities of the colleges.

THISDAY gathered that a high-level meeting was held for several hours
yesterday at the Federal Ministry of Education to decide on the next
line of action in all the unity schools in the three states.

An authoritative source told THISDAY yesterday that the government was
seriously shocked at the degree of the brutal destruction of lives,
buildings and facilities by members of Boko Haram,

“These are just children, little children, imagine the horror they must
have experienced before they were just wasted. It does not make any
sense to keep the schools open.

“People would prefer to keep their children at home. Education is
important, yes, but in these circumstances, it is no longer primary.
Safety of their children’s lives comes first for all parents,” the
ministry source said.

On the identities of the pupils who were killed, the source said the
names of the murdered students had not been released, adding that
considering the outrage that greeted the news, it might not be in the
best interest of the nation, security wise, if the names and states of
origin of the students were released.

“We cannot rule out the high possibility that some of the murdered
students are from other parts of Nigeria, outside the North-east, since
it is a unity school.

“Although in recent times, there have been a lot of lobbying at the
Federal Ministry of Education by parents to stop their children from
being sent to unity school in the north since the Boko Haram menace
started.

“When some of these parents realise that their lobbying has not worked,
they just turn down the admission slots instead of allowing their
children or wards to go there. It is just the same thing happening with
the NYSC (National Youth Service Corps), no one wants to go where there
is a crisis,” the source disclosed.

When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant (Media) to the Education
Minister, Mr. Simeon Nwakaudu, confirmed that a meeting to decide the
next line of action concerning the unity schools in the region was
ongoing as at press time.

He however clarified that the Ministry of Education could not by itself
take any decision concerning the schools without “higher authorities”.

“This is why the minister first directed that security must be beefed up in the schools in the region,” he said.

Nwakaudu also clarified that 30 and not 43 students, all of them boys, were murdered by the suspected terrorists.

He said: “Based on reports submitted to the ministry by the principal
of the affected school, there were also six bodies that are yet to be
identified.”

He also confirmed that no member of staff of the school was killed and
no female student was killed or abducted by the insurgents.

“According to the report, when they (murderers) got to the girls’
hostels, they assembled the girls and told them to go and marry and
never go back to any school,” Nwakaudu added.

Eight unity schools would be affected if the consideration to temporarily shut the schools is adopted.

They are Federal Government College, Ganye, Adamawa State
(co-educational); Federal Government Girls’ College, Yola, Adamawa
State; Federal Science and Technical College, Michika, Yobe State
(co-educational); Federal Government College, Maiduguri, Borno State
(co-educational); Federal Science and Technical College, Lassa, Borno
State (co-educational); Federal Government Girls’ College, Monguno,
Borno State; Federal Government College, Buni-Yadi, Yobe State; and
Federal Government Girls’ College, Potiskum, Yobe State.

FGC in Buni-Yadi, where the attack occurred, has already been closed on
the directives of the supervising Minister of Education, Chief Nyesom
Wike.

Supporting the move to shut down the schools, albeit temporarily, the
Unity Schools Old Students Association (USOSA) also called on the
federal government to immediately close down the eight unity colleges in
the three North-eastern states under emergency rule.

President General of USOSA, Alhaji Kabiru Nuhu Koko, while reacting to
the murder of the students, yesterday in Abuja, said the unity schools
in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States should be closed down with immediate
effect. 

Koko also demanded the immediate transfer of students in the eight
colleges to other federal government schools across the nation so as to
enable them continue their studies without fear.   

He added that “government should deploy sufficient security personnel
to secure the unity schools located in the three states, pending the
transfer of students to a safer environment”.

Meanwhile, an outpouring of grief and outrage have continued to trail
the murder of the students yesterday with the United Nations, major
political parties and the Speaker of House of Representatives, Aminu
Tambuwal, among others, condemning the attack on the school by Boko
Haram insurgents Tuesday.

Also, the Senate Committee on Defence and Army asked the Chief of Army
Staff (COAS), Lt. General Kenneth Minimah, to henceforth relocate to the
Seventh Division, Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, with a view to
tackling the rising insurgency in the North-east.

The committee also tasked the army to ensure that schools and health
institutions in the area are henceforth provided with special security
in order to guarantee the safety of innocent pupils and patients.

The committee also directed Minimah to re-strategise and devise new
ways of curbing the insurgency in North-eastern part of Nigeria, just as
it tasked the army boss to immediately present a budget proposal which
it promised to quickly approve to serve as an incentive against the
menace of terrorism.

It also directed the COAS to mobilise all available military resources to confront the menace of insurgency head on.

Yesterday’s directive by the committee took place when Minimah led
other top military officers to the Senate to defend the 2014 budget
proposal for the Nigerian Army.

The session had hardly begun when a member of the committee, Senator
Babafemi Ojodu, raised a point of order, drawing the committee’s
attention to the latest Boko Haram massacre in Yobe State.

According to him, the situation required drastic and urgent attention,
even as he urged the committee to mandate the army to immediately take
urgent steps with the aim of averting further massacre by the Islamist
sect.

Ojodu’s point of order was sustained by the committee chairman, Senator
George Sekibo, who along with other members of the committee condemned
the incessant attacks in the North-east, notably the mindless killings
of innocent students.

Thereafter, the committee issued a communique condemning the attacks
and urged President Goodluck Jonathan “to mobilise all needed resources
for the Armed Forces to face this national challenge”.

The communique also stated that “this battle must be won to sustain our
nation’s stability and unity, as it is only in the atmosphere of peace
and tranquility that development can be carried out”.

The committee also promised to undertake a tour of the three states
under emergency rule when the Senate resumes plenary on March 11.

The communique read in part: “The Senate Committee on Defence and Army
condemns the atrocity being unleashed by the Boko Haram element on
innocent citizens of the country, especially in the North-eastern part
of the country.

“We regret what happened yesterday (Tuesday) in the killing of innocent students in cold blood.

“The Committee on Defence and Army hereby issues a directive that the
Chief of Army Staff take the following actions: restrategise on possible
new ways of curbing excesses; mobilise all available military resources
and face the insurgency; relocate temporarily to the Seventh Division
in Maiduguri and that you take urgent and appropriate steps to quell the
situation; and from today, all schools and health institutions should
be provided with special security as we do not want a repeat of these
killings of our innocent citizens.”

Similarly, the United Nations Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon,
strongly condemned the brutal slaying of the students at the college.

In a statement, his spokesman said Ki-Moon expressed his sincere
condolences to the bereaved families and hoped that the perpetrators
would be swiftly brought to justice.

“The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about the increasing
frequency and brutality of attacks against educational institutions in
the north of the country,” the statement said. “He reiterates that no
objective can justify such violence.”

In his statement on the massacre, Tambuwal described the killing of
dozens of students at the school as ignoble, wicked and horrendous.

In the statement issued in Abuja by his Special Adviser on Media and
Public Affairs, Malam Imam Imam, Tambuwal tasked security agencies to
redouble their efforts and change their tactics especially now that
those engaged in the killings had increased their attacks on softer
targets.

He said the only way to console the families of the victims and
Nigerians was by fishing out perpetrators of the dastardly act and bring
them to justice.

“While attending prayers organised to mark the 89th birthday
celebration of former President Shehu Shagari in Sokoto, my attention
was drawn to the horrendous act of barbarity visited on innocent college
students in Yobe State.

“My first thoughts go to the families and friends of the kids brutally
gunned down in an act of cowardice by people whose humanity must be
called to question.

“While we must all join hands to bring this insanity to an end, we must
however bear in mind that we are running out of excuses in our
responsibility to our citizens.

“We in the House of Representatives feel the grief and pain of the
families of the victims. In this their hour of need, we will stand with
them hand-in-hand, shoulder-to-shoulder.

“We assure them that as brothers, we will continue to confront
headlong, the threats of terror facing our nation, and we know we will
come out stronger, and victorious,” he said.

In addition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said it has been
grief-stricken since it received the news of the gruesome killing of the
students in Yobe State.

The PDP, in a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary,
Olisa Metuh, yesterday described the attack and killing of the harmless
students as “monstrous and extremely shocking."

“The massacre of these harmless students cannot be justified under any 
guise. Indeed, the PDP is heart-broken and extremely devastated by
this  act of wickedness, which can only be associated with the devil.

“The PDP bleeds inside as we mourn the slaughtering of these promising 
young ones. Our hearts go out to the parents and families of these
innocent students. We share in their anguish, their pain and their
despair and we earnestly pray that those behind this act must not escape
judgment for spilling the blood of the innocent. No man commits such
wickedness and gets away with it,” the statement said.

On a similar note, the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday
condemned the horrific attack on the school by blood-thirsty insurgents.

In a statement by its interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, the party urged the president to immediately visit the state
to offer succour to the families of the victims.

The party said the attacks, which were extremely gory, even by the
scorched-earth tactics of the terrorists, plumbs the depth of horror.

“What a sad day for Nigeria and indeed for all of humanity, when
innocent school children were used as soft targets by a group of
cowardly terrorists, who have shed their toga of humanity on the altar
of a meaningless ideology.

“We condole with the families of the victims as well as the government
and people of Yobe State over this abominable crime. We urge the state
and federal government to work together to ensure that schools in the
state are adequately protected,” it said.

In its reaction, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) gave the federal
government low marks in the various security tactics adopted so far to
quell the activities of the insurgents.

In a statement issued yesterday in Kaduna, the ACF urged the federal
government to ensure that funds budgeted for equipment and welfare, get
to the troops engaged in the operations against the terrorists in the
North-east.

The forum in the statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary,
Muhammadu Ibrahim, condemned the attack on the college by the Boko Haram
sect, saying it was cruel, gruesome and inhuman.

The ACF wondered why the attacks on schools and villages in the
North-east had continued unabated despite the state of emergency and the
heavy presence of security operatives in the three states.

According to the forum, the massacre of the students and innocent
people was completely against the tenets of Islamic religion and 
appealed to members of the sect to embrace the federal government's call
for dialogue.

The statement further slammed the president for his attack on the
Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, who recently stated that
members of the terrorist group were better armed than the Nigerian Army.

Amidst all the reactions, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has denied
that the military command withdrew its troops hours before the outlawed
group invaded the Federal Government College.

The Director of Defence Information (DDI), Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade,
while responding to THISDAY enquiries yesterday, refuted the allegation
purportedly carried by the foreign media that soldiers deliberately gave
way prior to the massacre.

Olukolade said there was no iota of truth in what was reported,
explaining that soldiers, as an operational procedure, are usually not
static but on constant patrol as the situation demands.

He noted that it is practically impossible for soldiers to be deployed
to every nook and cranny of the state and country at the same time.

He added that the soldiers deployed in the state had always acted in a
professional manner and often responded to distress calls, especially if
informed and aware of any impending attack.

“There was never a permanent checkpoint near FGC, Buni Yadi. Rather it
was the soldiers in Buni Gari, about 7 kiolmetres ahead of Buni Yadi
town, who were recently re-assigned to beef up the offensive action on
some discovered terrorist locations. The sector was involved in patrols
and ambushes in line with intelligence reports,” he said.

On the students’ massacre, the defence spokesman said the situation was
unfortunate and urged members of the public to always volunteer
information to security personnel, as they could not succeed without
their cooperation.