The Federal Government said yesterday security agencies are still conducting searches to rescue the female students abducted by suspected Boko Haram gunmen from Government Girls Secondary Schol, Chibok, Borno State.
Senate President David Mark described the abduction of the girls as “embarrassing and sacrilegeous”.
Speaking with State House Correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday, Minister of Information, Labaran Maku said: “The abduction of the girls, that itself is a national tragedy that young girls of school age could be abducted in our country in 2014. It is unimaginable, nobody even in our wildest imagination that a group of people under whatever guise will take hostage of young girls who are just in the school to write exams.
“This is indeed very painful. From the President and all of us we have been going through a lot of anguish. It is almost like a story out of this world. It goes to show the level of depravity, lack of human feeling that is going on in this clime of terror in this country.
“The security forces are still on the heels of these kidnappers and every efforts are being deployed. Unfortunately we are not fighting a standing army. The work of defeating terror is for us to be united. And for us citizens who have information that can lead to fishing out these girls and other criminals in the system to give that information”.
Mark in a statement by his chief Press Secretary, Paul Mumeh, said he could only imagine the harrowing experience of the students in the hands of their captors as well as the mental and psychological torture of their parents and guardians.
The senate president pleaded with the captors to allow wise counsel to prevail by freeing the school girls.
He stressed that no rational being could justify the abduction of the children whose only offence is that they chose to go to school to better their lot and contribute to the socio-economic and political development of their fatherland.
Mark said: “The situation is fast degrading and devaluing us as against the age long cherished love for younger persons.
“It is a sad commentary and a terrible assault on our psyche as a people. In the good old days of Nigeria, this was a taboo and unarguably unheard of”.
He canvassed for synergy among security agencies to do all that is needed to rescue the girls from their captors saying that the worsening situation is making a mockery of our nation.
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