One of the victims of the Boko Haram attack in the hospital in Yobe State...on Wednesday.
| credits: Saharareporters.
The
United Nations on Wednesday joined prominent Nigerians and groups in
condemning the gruesome killing of schoolchildren in the Federal
Government College, Buni Yadi in Yobe State by Boko Haram insurgents.
Also, some surviving victims of the attack recounted their ordeal on Wednesday.
According to a report by Nigerianonpoint.com,
Aliyu Ayuba, a JSS 3 student, fled the scene with a bullet in his back.
He said the assailants; young men and boys in military uniforms and
plain clothes, ordered the students to gather in one place and started
shooting sporadically. Aliyu added that all his roommates were killed
and burnt inside the hostel.
Another survivor said, “I was shot in
my left leg, while I was sleeping. When I woke up, I could not walk and
was later taken to the girls’ hostel where the insurgents gathered us
with the female students. They selected some of the female students and
went away with them, while they left some of us groaning in pain from
gunshots.”
A teacher, Mallam Samaila Idris,
narrated how the attackers drove into the school premises in nine Hilux
vans at around midnight on Monday; their bloody operation lasted for
over five hours.
He said that those who stayed at the
school thought the assailants were military personnel, until the
shooting started. Idris added that those in the staff quarters fled
before the terrorists started the fire.
Before the National Human Rights
Commission, the Nigerian Bar Association, the Arewa Consultative
Forum, the Jama’atu Nasril Islam, the Northern Elders Forum, the
President of the Senate, David Mark, the Speaker, House of
Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, and the Prelate, Methodist Church of
Nigeria, Dr. Chukwuemeka Uche, reacted, a state hospital official
said the death toll had risen from 43 to 59.
“Fresh bodies have been brought in. More
bodies were discovered in the bush after the students who had escaped
with bullet wounds died from their injuries,” Bala Ajiya of the
Damaturu Specialist Hospital said late on Wednesday.
Ajiya added that the school’s 24
buildings, including staff quarters, were completely burned to the
ground by the attackers during the onslaught.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Senate
Committee on Defence and Army had passed a resolution directing the
Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Kenneth Minimah, to relocate his office to
Borno State in order to effectively monitor the war against the
insurgents in the North –East.
• UN expresses concern
In New York, United States, the UN,
through its Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, expressed worry over
incessant attacks on places of learning and advised that the
perpetrators 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. He
reiterates that no objective can justify such violence,”the global body
added in a statement.
One of its agencies, UNICEF also,
expressed outrage at the brutal killings, saying it was “unacceptable
under any circumstances”
“We condemn in the strongest possible
terms this vicious attack on students,” its Regional Director for West
and Central Africa, Manuel Fontaine, said in a statement.
“Many young lives were lost. Many more
students and teachers are deprived of their right to education. Attacks
on children and schools are unacceptable under any circumstances,” the
UN agency added.
It said that, “When a school is under
attack and students become targets, not only their lives are shattered
–the future of the nation is stolen.”
• Senate committee orders Army chief to relocate to Borno
The Senate Committee on Defence and
Army, which also expressed disgust over the attack, passed a
resolution directing the COAS to relocate his office temporarily to
the 7th Division of Nigerian Army in Maiduguri for urgent and
appropriate steps to quell Boko Haram’s repeated attacks on the
North-East.
The committee also directed the Army
boss to adopt new methods for curbing the sect’s excesses in Yobe,
Borno and Adamawa states.
It passed the resolution when Minimah led top officers of the Army to the Senate to defend the budget of the service.
The Yobe massacre was raised by a member
of the committee, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, through a point of order
predicated on Orders 42 and 102 of the Senate Standing Rules.
The committee, in a two-page statement
containing the resolution, explained that, it came up with the decison
after a two-hour brainstorming session with the COAS on the way out of
the Boko Haram menace.
The committee led by Senator George
Sekibo also resolved that all schools and health institutions in the
country should be provided with special security.
It gave express approval to the 2014
budget of the Army and told the COAS that what was of utmost
priority to it now was stemming the killings in the North-East and
not the budget details.
The committee also called on Jonathan
to rise up to the challenge by mobilising resources for the Armed Forces
to fight the insurgents decisively.
• Mark, Tambuwal flay killings
Also in Abuja, the Senate President,
through a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Paul Mumeh,
condemned “the gruesome murder in cold blood” of the students, saying
Boko Haram had no justification for their action.
He said, “This open declaration of war
on everybody, especially defenceless students, cannot be justified. This
is inhuman, it is animalistic and barbaric. It is unthinkable that this
is happening in Nigeria.
“It is also curious that under an
emergency rule when security operatives should be on red alert, mayhem
still persists. Honestly, this calls for soul searching and I believe
the security authorities must rise to this challenge.”
Mark sympathised with the government and people of Yobe State, especially the families of the bereaved.
Also, Tambuwal called on the military to
change its tactics since it was becoming clear that the Boko Haram
terrorists were operating at a pace faster than its operatives.
He described the killing as “ignoble,
wicked and horrendous,” saying the best way to console the families
of the victims was to go after the attackers and bring them to justice.
Tambuwal, in a statement by his
Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Imam Imam,
expressed surprise that the insurgents were now turning to “softer
targets.”
He added that authorities were already “ running out of excuses.”
Part of the statement reads, “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.”
Also in Abuja, the National Human
Rights Commission canvassed an open and transparent trial in a court of
competent jurisdiction for those found to be responsible for the
killings.
Describing the massacre as “dastardly,
barbaric, senseless and horrific,” it expressed its readiness to
continue to work towards resolving the security challenges in parts of
the North.
“The commission has been proactive in
human rights monitoring, protection and promotion and will do everything
within its mandate to ensure that Nigerians whose rights are violated
can have redress through the commission,” said its Executive
Secretary, Prof. Bem Angwe.
Angwe called on the relevant authorities
to urgently put machinery in place to ensure that the families of those
who survived the attack and those of the deceased were given social
and economic support.
• FG must live up to expectations – NBA, ACF, JNI, NEF,
The NBA, on its part, asked the
government to live up to its constitutional responsibilities by
protecting the lives of Nigerians.
“We condemn this callous carnage, and we
hereby reiterate the hallowed provision of the 1999 Constitution which
provides that the security, protection of live and property is the
primary duty of the government,” the association said in a statement by
its President, Mr. Okey Wali (SAN).
In the statement titled, “Mr.
President, stop this carnage,” the association added, “We appreciate
the fact that confronting this scourge of insecurity requires collective
leadership at all levels but we call on the President, the service
and security chiefs and governors of the affected states to intensify
efforts in addressing the increasing security challenges that we are
currently facing in Nigeria.”
In its reaction, the Pan-Northern
socio-cultural organisation, the Arewa Consultative Forum, said the
killing of the pupils was a “most cruel and gruesome act.”
The forum wondered why the attacks on
schools and villages in the North-East had continued despite the state
of emergency in the zone.
It said the massacre of the students was
completely against the tenets of Islam for which Boko Haram claimed
to be representing.
The body, in a statement by its
National Publicity Secretary, Muhammadu Ibrahim, appealed to the sect
to embrace the Federal Government’s call on dialogue.
It also called on the Federal
Government to, as a matter of urgency, provide adequate security in
Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.
The Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar lll-led
JNI asked the Federal Government to wake up to its responsibility of
protecting Nigerians and stop playing politics with human lives.
The JNI, in a statement by its
Secretary-General, Dr. Abubakar Aliyu, said the attack on innocent
pupils was condemnable, considering that it came barely a few days
after similar incidents in Bama, Izge, Malari in Borno State.
While urging Muslim clerics to pray and
fast over the continued insecurity in the country, the body called on
the government to probe the latest attack.
It said, “As always, JNI will not be
deterred nor will it overlook things as they unfold, especially over the
repeated wicked acts of terror being unleashed on the Muslims, hence
JNI received with shock and distress the senseless killings at the FGC
in Buni Yadi by criminals.
“We expect the Federal Government to
wake up to its responsibility of protecting lives and property of
Nigerians, especially in the North -East and stop its diatribe.
“The Sultan of Sokoto and
President-General of the JNI calls on all Imams in their respective
mosques to commence Al-Qunut (special supplication during human or
natural catastrophe, observed during the five daily prayers for ease and
relief). The generality of Muslims are also implored to fervently pray
for the restoration of peace and security in Nigeria, bearing in mind
that without Nigeria there will be no Nigerians.”
The Islamic body expressed concern over
the continued killings despite the state of emergency and the numerous
checkpoints currently in place in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states and
other parts of the north.
The JNI said the perpetrators of the killings must be fished out.
The spokesman for the NEF, Prof. Ango
Abdullahi, said the attack on the college could have been avoided if
the government had taken the advice given by the group in 2012
seriously.
He argued that since the battle
against the insurgents was not a conventional one, conventional
methods were not likely to yield results.
Abdullahi said, “Even the world’s
greatest powers find it difficult to win this kind of war in the
North-East. Government must look at the root causes of this insurgence.
“This is a human problem and if it is a
human problem, it is human beings who will sit around a table to discuss
this issue. These killings are senseless and we condemn them.”
The Methodist Church, through its Prelate, Uche, expressed ‘great shock and sadness’ over the attack on the college.
In a statement by the Church’s Media
and Public Relations Officer, Rev. Oladapo Daramola, the Prelate said
he was “praying for the families of the children who were killed
and all others traumatised by this horrendous crime.”
The statement added, “The targeting of
children is heinous and unthinkable. An event like this reminds us of
our common humanity,regardless of religious beliefs, ideological
differences or ethnic sentiments.
“This was a senseless loss of innocent
young lives, especially since schools should be sanctuaries for our
children. These children are innocent, full of life and promise but cut
down in a hail of bullets in a preventable act of terror.”
The church warned that “until the
promoters of these satanic events are unmasked and brought to book,
these attacks may continue unabated.”
Story by: Niyi Odebode, John
Alechenu, John Ameh, Olusola Fabiyi, Sunday Aborisade, Ihuoma
Chiedozie, Godwin Isenyo and Vincent Obia.
Source PUNCH.
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