Global human rights watchdog, Amnesty International (AI) has revealed that Nigerian security forces got advance warnings that a convoy of Boko Haram fighters was heading towards Dapchi, a town where 110 schoolgirls were abducted by terrorists on February 19 in an assault similar to the infamous Chibok girls’ abduction of April ,2014.
It claimed that no fewer than five calls were put across to security forces between 2pm and 6:30pm on that fateful day of the abduction of female pupils from Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State.
In a report on the incident released, yesterday, Amnesty International said the first call was made to the Nigerian Army Command in Geidam, 54kilometres from Dapchi, informing them that Boko Haram fighters had been seen at Futchimiram heading to Gumsa, a village about 30km from Dapchi.
The Director, Amnesty International in Nigeria, Osai Ojigho maintained in a statement that the Nigerian authorities have failed in their duty to protect civilians, just as they did in Chibok four years ago.
Amnesty added that documented evidence shows that the military did nothing to stop the insurgents.
“The sighting of an armed convoy at Futchimiram immediately sparked several phone calls to alert authorities. Sources who informed the military commander in Geidam at 2p.m. report that he responded to them by saying he was aware of the situation and was monitoring it.
“At about 3pm, the convoy arrived in Gumsa, where they remained till 5pm. People in Gumsa called Dapchi villagers to warn them that Boko Haram fighters were on their way. One villager who received such a call said he informed a police sergeant who promised to notify the Dapchi Division Police Officer (DPO).
“At about 6:30pm, when residents were heading to the mosque for evening prayers, Boko Haram members entered Dapchi. Witnesses said Boko Haram fighters asked for directions to the military post, the local government office and the girls’ school,” the report said.
Amnesty learnt from an eyewitness that approximately 50 Boko Haram fighters stormed Dapchi in a convoy of nine vehicles with Arabic inscriptions on them. The vehicles included seven Land Cruiser trucks, one Hilux and a Canter truck.
A police source in Dapchi also told the group that on sighting them, police officers fled because they feared that the Boko Haram fighters would overpower them. According to victims and eyewitnesses interviewed by AI, Boko Haram left Gumsa for Dapchi at about 5pm, arriving at about 6:30pm.
“They left Dapchi at about 7:30pm in the direction of Gumsa, where villagers say they arrived at about 9p.m. During the attack, army officials both in Geidam and Damaturu were again alerted. The military only arrived in Dapchi shortly after Boko Haram left. Villagers in Dapchi and Gumsa said a military jet arrived about one hour after Boko Haram left Dapchi,” read the report.
AI lamented that in spite of the several distress calls, the Nigerian military neither took effective measures to stop the abduction nor made serious efforts to rescue the girls after they were taken by Boko Haram fighters.
Amnesty, whose researchers spoke to about 23 people and three security officials, said the Army command in Geidam had told callers they were aware of the situation and were monitoring.
Police in Dapchi promised to tell divisional commanders, while Army commanders in Geidam and Damaturu were also alerted during the attack, it added.
While describing the inaction as, “inexcusable security lapses”, Ojigho said, “Evidence available to Amnesty International suggests that there are insufficient troops deployed in the area, and that an absence of patrols and the failure to respond to warnings and engage with Boko Haram contributed to this tragedy. The government’s failure in this incident must be investigated and the findings made public and it is absolutely crucial that any investigation focuses on the root causes.”
The Dapchi abduction has thrown into doubt repeated government and military claims that Boko Haram is on the brink of defeat, after nearly nine years of fighting and at least 20,000 deaths.
Boko Haram, which has used kidnapping as a weapon of war during the conflict, has not claimed responsibility but it is believed a faction headed by Abu Mus’ab al-Barnawi is behind it.
IS in August 2015 publicly backed Barnawi as the leader of Boko Haram, or Islamic State West Africa Province, over Abubakar Shekau, whose supporters carried out the Chibok abduction.
Analysts have attributed a financial motive to the Dapchi kidnapping given government ransom payments made to Boko Haram to secure the release of some of the captives from Chibok.
Meanwhile, the Coalition of Civil Society Groups against Terrorism in Nigeria has called on international rights organization, Amnesty International, to desist from what it described as its judgmental reports on the security situation in the troubled North-East.
The group, in a statement, yesterday, in Lagos, and jointly signed by its Convener and Registrar, Comrade Odeyemi Oladimeji and Atani John, respectively, described the recent statement credited to the rights group, where it said “Nigerian Security Forces ignored warnings about Boko Haram attack on Dapchi” as totally undeserving and a joke taken too far by Amnesty International, at the expense of Nigeria’s internal security and sovereignty.
Meanwhile, The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday said a recent report issued by Amnesty International (AI) report has vindicated its stance that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) must be held responsible for the abduction that took place in Dapchi.
Over 100 school girls were abducted by suspected Boko Haram insurgents in Dapchi, Yobe State. They are yet to be rescued by the Nigerian authorities.
The party in a statement yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, described the revelation by AI that security forces got advance warning of the impending attack but failed to prevent the abduction as “heartrending, distressing and disappointing”.
The report by AI stated that: “The Nigerian authorities have failed in their duty to protect civilians, just as they did in Chibok four years ago. Despite being repeatedly told that Boko Haram fighters were heading to Dapchi, it appears that the police and military did nothing to avert the abduction.”
The PDP said the revelation had further showed the ineptitude of the present government.
“This revelation by the Amnesty International has finally exposed Buhari-led Federal Government and its manifest failures, deceptions and culpability in the circumstances surrounding the unfortunate abduction of our daughters.
Similary, A legal and advocacy rights group, Women and Legal Aid, WELA, yesterday called on the African Committee on Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, ACERWC, to undertake a fact-finding mission to Nigeria to establish the circumstances surrounding the abduction of over 100 schoolgirls in Dapchi Village in Yobe State.
In a letter made available to newsmen yesterday, the group urged the committee, which is a unit of the African Union Commission, to request the Nigerian government to highlight steps taken to ensure the release of the school girls.
The letter, dated March 12, was addressed to Benyam Mezmur, the chairperson of African Committee on Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, ACERWC, African Union Commission.
Over 100 school girls were abducted in Dapchi village in February after the school was invaded by suspected Boko Haram members. The government of Yobe initially announced that the girls had been rescued but it turned out to be a hoax.
WELA yesterday said it wants the AU commission to put pressure on the Nigerian government to secure the release of the girls.
The organisation also described the abduction as a sign of failure of the Nigerian state in protecting Nigerian school children, reminiscent of the 2014 abduction of girls in Chibok community.
“We believe attacks on schools place children at risks of injury or death and affect children’s ability to obtain an education,” the group said.