Nigerian authorities dither after Boko Haram said to have abducted schoolgirls
Dapchi, Nigeria — Anger erupted in a town in remote northeast Nigeria on Thursday, after officials fumbled to account for scores of schoolgirls who locals say have been kidnapped by Boko Haram jihadists — a disappearance reviving traumatic memories of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls. Police said on Wednesday that 111 girls from the state-run boarding school in Dapchi, in Yobe state, were unaccounted for following a jihadist raid on Monday night. Hours later, Abdullahi Bego, spokesperson for Yobe state governor Ibrahim Gaidam, said "some of the girls" had been rescued by troops "from the terrorists who abducted them". But on a visit to Dapchi on Thursday, Gaidam appeared to question whether there had been any abduction. "The girls scattered during the attack, and we can’t be sure whether they were lost or taken," he said. "We have no certainty that these boys [Boko Haram] took these girls. "Nobody saw these girls being taken in vehicles. It is possible some of the girls came across m...
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