The Defence Headquarters said yesterday that only eight of the 129 students abducted by Boko Haram from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State were still missing.
Eighty of the students were said to have escaped from Boko Haram’s camp or rescued by troops.
Some of the girls were alleged to have been freed by the sect on compassionate grounds.
Troops were ordered last night to rescue the eight remaining girls before dawn.
One of the abductors was arrested.
According to the Director of Defence Information, Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade, who spoke with our correspondent last night, the girls were “rescued in a village on one of the routes taken by the insurgents after abducting the girls”.
Gen. Olukolade said: “More students of the GGSS, Chibok have been freed this evening in the ongoing Search and Rescue Operations to free the abducted students.
“With this development, the principal of the school confirmed that only eight of the students are still missing.
“One of the terrorists who carried out the attack on the school has been captured.”
Responding to a question, Olukade said: “Most of the girls were rescued in a village along one of the routes used by the insurgents.
“Also, some of the girls actually escaped from the sect’s camp. The troops have got a marching order to rescue the remaining eight girls before dawn.”
There was outrage yesterday over Tuesday’s kidnap of the girls .
Labour told security operatives to “find the girls”.
Republic of China, the United Nations Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF), First Lady Patience Jonathan and many groups called for urgent action.
Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima said 14 of the abducted girls had escaped – 10 from custody and four as they were being taken away. He offered N50million for information that could lead to the girls’ rescue.
President Goodluck Jonathan, who expressed shock over the kidnap, will preside over a security meeting today. It will be followed with an enlarged meeting with governors.
Some of the girls have also spoken on how they escaped.
In a statement titled “You must find these girls” by its acting General Secretary, Chris Uyot, the NLC said: “We fear that except there is a fundamental change of strategy that involves the people and reflects basic security initiatives, we will pay a heavy price in the Northeast.
“It is absolutely important that neither the insurgents nor government contractors be allowed to take control of this war.
“Meanwhile, we commend the fighting spirit, the resourcefulness and the staying power of the people of the Northeast who have put up with unspeakable losses and indescribable violations and deprivations. We salute their courage and patriotism and their sense of self-worth.”
The NLC described the abduction as “disgusting, repugnant, nauseating, chilling and totally unacceptable”. This is a heinous crime against our children, our women, the Nigerian nation and against humanity, and must not be allowed to stand, it said.
“The Nigerian security forces must restore their honour and dignity by speedily finding and rescuing these young and innocent girls before any more harm befalls them.
“It is mind-boggling that in spite of repeated assaults on schools in the Northeast, no appreciable effort has been made to secure the schools where these students have had to study under the most hostile conditions.
“It is equally amazing that in spite of the supposedly innumerable security checkpoints in the region, truck-loads of young girls could disappear into thin air in a Sahel region!”
The First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, in a statement signed by his media assistant Ayo Adewuyi, said the action was “inhuman and needless perpetration of evil against innocent school children”.
“It has again become necessary for us to strengthen the advocacy for resolving differences in our society in a peaceful manner, to avert violence and wars in our country.
“No nation profits not from a regime of fear and insecurity because where there is no peace, there cannot be development.
“There is the need to put a stop to all these, in order to put the nation back on track and enable our leaders to focus on development,’’ she said.
To the Muslim umbrella body in the North, the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), the abduction was shocking.
Secretary General Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu said: “The abduction is another shocking story regarding the unfortunate happenings in Nigeria, especially the North.
“It is quite unfortunate and, in fact, painfully confusing, that despite the state of emergency imposed on Borno State for a long time, with the attendant huge amount of resources earmarked for security operatives, and despite the presence of uniformed security men at checkpoints which are strategically located at closed intervals, this horrific act could still happen.
“JNI condemns this act of barbarism in the strongest terms and calls on the authorities concerned to put all the needed efforts to free these innocent girls and get them to continue with their studies.
“We sympathise with the victims and their teachers and families at this traumatising moment and pray that Allah will end their agony in the shortest possible time.
“JNI also calls on all Muslims in the country to intensify Qunut and du’a so that Allah (SWT) will unveil and deal with all the perpetrators of these activities.”
The Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Olajumoke Akinjide, also condemned the abduction of the girls.
Ms Akinjide’s media assistant Ayodeji Adeyemi said: “Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide has condemned the abduction of 136 girls in Borno State. As a mother and a family woman, the minister is saddened and has urged Nigerians to pray for the safe return of the girls back to their families. “
China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying said“China strongly condemns and opposes terrorism in all forms”.
“We urge the immediate release of those innocent students, and assurance of their safety.’’
She said China, as Nigeria’s strategic co-operative partner, would continue to firmly support the Nigerian government to safeguard its national security and stability.
The girls said they were lured by the abductors who pretended to be soldiers on a rescue mission. They had returned to sit final-year certificate exams at their school despite a Borno state-wide closure of educational centres because of Boko Haram attacks. They initially obeyed the armed visitors, thinking they were soldier there to protect them.
“When we saw these gunmen, we thought they were soldiers. They told all of us to come and walk to the gates; we followed their instructions,” 18-year-old Godiya Isaiah, who later managed to escape the abductors, told Reuters.
But when the armed men started ransacking the school stores and setting fire to the building, the terrified girls being herded at gunpoint into vehicles realised they were being kidnapped.
“We were crying,” Isaiah said, recounting how she later jumped from a truck and ran away to hide in the bush. Other girls were packed into a bus and some pick-ups.
Borno State Education Commissioner Inuwa Kubo said five other girls who also managed to escape told the same story.
“They went into the bus unsuspecting,” he told Reuters.
“They were lured into the vehicle because they were told that the school was going to be attacked,” he added. The attackers also raided Chibok town, ransacking stores and offices there and killing several people, witnesses said.
The police and army patrols were yesterday scouring the bush and hills around Chibok for the missing girls, believed to about 100. Kubo said 129 girls had been at the school taking their exams when the abduction took place.
Chibok is not far from a rugged area of forest, hills and caves where military officials say Boko Haram has camps near the border with neighbouring Cameroon. They have abducted girls in the past to be sex slaves for the fighters and to do camp work.
