Fresh facts emerge on Chibok abduction

Fresh facts emerged yesterday on what the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), the Federal Ministry of Education and some security operatives actually did before the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls, Daily Sun has learnt. These revelations are contained in a 14-page document obtained by our reporter recently.
In the said document, there was nothing to indicate that the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State from where the over 200 female students were abducted, may have been “singled out” as not being safe for examination, and had requested for an alternative venue.
Specially, Mr. Charles Eguridu, who stood in for WAEC, at the meeting with the First Lady, Patience Jonathan, had said WAEC had specifically warned that Chibok was not safe for the May/June 2014 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), and that Governor Kashim Shettima rejected the warning and insisted that the examination must go on.
However, a copy of a letter written by WAEC, dated March 19,2014, signed by F. M. Gaiya, a zonal coordinator, may not have singled out Chibok as unsafe.
WAEC raised issues of security, to which it did by requesting the Borno State Governor to provide security in all the centres without the WAEC being specific on Chibok as Eguridu said.
The letter also indicated that Governor Kashim Shettima was not in the country at the time, but his deputy, Zannah Umar Mustapha, who was on the ground at the time, received the said letter.
In the letter, titled: “Urgent intervention towards the conduct of the May/June 2014 WASSCE in Borno State,” the zonal coordinator, whose letter was directed to the Borno State Deputy Governor Mustapha, said “Your Excellency (Deputy Governor), following my visit to your office with the Honourable Commissioner for Education in the presence of the Director, ERC on ways of conducting a hitchfree 2014 WASSCE in the state, I wish to passionately make the following request for the duration of the examination (copy of timetable attached).
Provision of three (3) pickup vehicles to convey security (sensitive exam) material on three routes from Maiduguri-Biu (daily); Maiduguri-Auno (daily) and Maiduguri to Askira-Lassa-Chibok (twice weekly), armed escorts for each route.
Another letter, dated March 20, 2014, signed by the Chief Admin Officer, Special Services (Security) at the Government House in Maiduguri signed by M. M. Gana, indicated that the Borno State Government promptly wrote to the Borno State Police Commissioner, Lawal Tanko requesting for security to be provided to all examination centres in Borno State, including Chibok, throughout the duration of the May/June 2014 WASSCE examinations.
But like the WAEC officials, the Police Commissioner, Lawal Tanko, also claimed that the police in Borno State was only required to provide security at Government Secondary School, Chibok during the day whereas the abduction took place in the night.
Meanwhile, a letter from the office of Minister of State for Education, was said to have focused entirely on unity schools, requesting the state government to move final year students from all federal colleges in the state and move them to Maiduguri, for the May/June exams given their relatively fewer number.