Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in
Borno State, were on Monday night abducted
by members of the outlawed militant Islamic
sect, Boko Haram.
The incident took place less than 15 hours
after four suicide bombers detonated
Improvised Explosive Devices, killing 89
people in a busy motor park in Nyanya, a
satellite community bordering the Federal
Capital Territory and Nasarawa State.
Just before the news of the abduction spread
on Tuesday, there was pandemonium at the
National Assembly as a bomb scare forced
lawmakers and workers to hurriedly close
their offices.
Parents told the Hausa service of the British
Broadcasting Corporation that the girls, who
are Senior Secondary Schools Examination
candidates, were woken up at about 10pm in
their hostel by the insurgents and ordered
into four waiting lorries.
A pupil, who did not wish to be named, was
quoted as saying that she managed to escape
after seeing some of her classmates jump
out of the back of one of the lorries.
Our correspondent in Borno reported that the
insurgents also killed an undisclosed number
of people in the village, carted away food
items and burnt some houses as well as
vehicles.
It was learnt that some members of the
special military force were among those killed
by the terrorists, who were said to have had a
field day.
A resident, Amos Ahmadu, said many people
fled into nearby bushes while others managed
to get to Damboa.
When contacted, the Borno state
Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Lawan Tanko,
said he had sent his men to Chibok.
He however said he could not volunteer any
further details for now.
In Abuja, a security scare at the National
Assembly on Tuesday forced workers to flee
home before the official closing time of 4pm.
The development started around 2pm
following an alleged strange movement of a
group of people in the Assembly complex.
It was learnt that the immediate response of
the security operatives comprising the police
and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence
Corps, further heightened the fear among the
lawmakers and workers.
The security agents were seen frisking both
visitors and workers at the sprawling complex.
At that point, the senior officers of the
Assembly directed their junior colleagues to
lock up their offices and close for the day.
One of the workers said, "They said that the
premises should be evacuated before 2pm. I
am running out, I don't want to be caught up
in any tragedy."
One source alleged that the security alert was
issued by the Clerk to the National Assembly,
Mr. Salisu Maikasuwa.
But Maikasuwa expressed surprise that he was
fingered for giving such a directive.
In a response to an electronic mail from The
PUNCH, he replied, "Not from me (security
alert). It is a rumour based on panic.
"We cannot authenticate the source. May God
protect us. Thank you."
Findings showed that security personnel at the
National Assembly were equally confused as to
the source of the alleged alert.
One of our correspondents contacted the
offices of the Sergeant-At-Arms, the police,
Department of State Security Service and the
NSCDC at the National Assembly to authentic
the source of the alleged alert but they also
expressed surprise.
The Acting Sergeant-at-Arms of the National
Assembly, Mr. Ibrahim Ndako, told journalists
that there was nothing like a bomb scare in
the complex. He attributed the workers'
panic to mere rumours.
Ndako said, "There is nothing like a bomb
scare. It is just a rumour. Those banks chose
to close because we had assured them that
there was nothing like that. It was just a mere
rumour."
An SSS personnel, who did not want his name
in print, said the office was also investigating
how the "rumour came about."
"People are running home over a claim of
security alert. Alert from where? This is
causing unnecessary panic", the official stated.
But a worker in the Assembly, Idrisu Indimi,
said, "What happened yesterday (Monday) was
horrific. I think people are still in shock. The
point is that there were rumours and people
had to act the way they did.
"So, any mention of insecurity scares people
to their bone marrows."
It was also learnt that the scare also forced
workers at the Federal Secretariat to close
their offices for the day.
They were said to have panicked when they
saw the National Assembly workers rushing to
their homes.
An unconfirmed report attributed the rumour
to Pastor T. B. Joshua, who was alleged to
have in one of his predictions listed the
National Assembly as a possible place of
attack.
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