SchoolGirls abduction: Documents fault WAEC, Police claims

The government of Borno State took preemptive steps to avert any security breach in Chibok abduction: Documents fault WAEC, Police claims and all centres for the Senior School Certificate Examinations, according to documents from the authorities. The state alerted the police on the need to protect examination centres in Maiduguri, Biu, Askira, Lassa, Chibok and Auno. Also, contrary to the claim of the Head, National Office of WAEC in Nigeria, Mr. Charles Eguridu, there was no time the agency specifically requested for a special security cover for Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok where the 276 girls were abducted on April 15. Eguridu told reporters that WAEC had specifically warned that Chibok wasn’t safe for the May/June 2014 West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) but that Governor Kashim Shettima overruled the warning. But Shettima was away for a meeting of Northern governors with the United States Government when WAEC alleged that it raised the alarm on Chibok. Details of event before the abduction girls are in some documents obtained by our correspondent. They show that some agencies may have been lying. According to sources, while WAEC called for adequate security measures for examination centres, it did not single out Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok for any extra-security arrangement. WAEC’s letter to the state government did not give any warning that GGSS Chibok was unsafe. A copy of March 19 letter, signed by the Zonal Coordinator of WAEC, F.M Gaiya (on behalf of the national headquarters of WAEC) gave an insight into what the examinations body said about security challenges in Borno State. The letter, titled “Urgent intervention towards the conduct of the May/June 2014 WASSCE in Borno State”, and directed to Deputy Governor Zannah Umar 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 hitch free 2014 WASSCE in the state, I wish to passionately make the following request for the duration of the examination (copy of time table attached). “Provision of three (3) pick up vehicles to convey security (sensitive exam) materials on three routes from Maiduguri-Biu (daily); Maiduguri-Auno (daily) and Maiduguri to Askira-Lassa-Chibok (twice weekly). “Armed escorts for each route. Adequate security for the examination centres in Maiduguri, Biu, Askira, Lassa and Chibok. “In addition, I am pleading for the provision of two houses for the Deputy Registrar/ Zonal coordinator and his assistant who have been hobbling from hotel to hotel as a result of the prevailing security situation in the state. Thanking you for your anticipated approval.” Based on the letter, the state government alerted Commissioner of Police Lawal Tanko on WAEC’s security needs. The state, in a March 20 letter, signed by the Chief Admin Officer, Special Services (Security) at the Government House in Maiduguri, M.M Gana, requested for security for all examination centres, including Chibok, throughout the duration of the May/ June 2014 WASSCE examinations. The letter was contrary to the Police Commissioner’s claim at the Presidential Villa on May 2, that the police in Borno State was only required to provide security at the Government Secondary School, Chibok during the day time whereas the abduction took place at night. The disclosure made the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, at the meeting, to exonerate the police of any blame. She said the police carried out the job demanded of them by the state government. Gana’s letter to the Police Commissioner was also titled “Urgent intervention towards the conduct of the May/June 2014 WASSCE in Borno State.” The letter said: “Report reaching this office from the office of the zonal coordinator of WASSCE with reference NO: MD/ZO/OA/10/203 dated 19th March, 2014 on the above subject matter requesting the intervention of the State Government for the smooth conduct of the 2014 WASSCE in the State (photocopy attached). “ It could be recalled that last year’s WASSCE in the State suffered a setback due to the activities of Boko Haram insurgency. In some centres, students missed examinations, some wrote the examinations in haste and fear while others were unable to even sit for some of the examination. In the light of the above, I am directed to make the following requests for the duration of the examinations. Attached is a copy of the examination time table for guidance. “Provision of three (3) police pick up vehicles to convey security men on three routes from Maiduguri-Biu (daily); Maiduguri-Auno (daily) and Maiduguri to Askira-Lassa-Chibok (twice weekly). “Provision of armed escorts for each route. Adequate security for the examination centres in Maiduguri, Biu, Askira, Lassa, Chibok and Auno. “I am further directed to add that government would arrange three official vehicles for the conveyance of the security/examination materials, one to each of the routes while police would contribute three police patrol vehicles and escort to each route. Thank you for the usual cooperation.” A source who spoke in confidence also faulted the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, for claiming that the ministry warned the state against conducting examinations in Chibok. The source said: “A letter sent from the office of Minister of State for Education which the supervising Minister claimed he used in warning the Borno State Government against conducting the WASSCE in Chibok was said to have focused entirely on Unity Schools, requesting the Borno State Government to move final year students from all federal colleges in the State to collapse them in Maiduguri for the May/June exams, given their relatively fewer number compared to those of Borno. “By the letter, the Minister keyed into the model adopted by Borno’s government, which collapsed students in fewer examination centres as against over one hundred located in over 80 public secondary schools and private schools across the state. “The Minister neither has controlling or advisory powers over schools owned by Borno State Government and as such he couldn’t have directed the Borno Government not to conduct exams in Chibok. “Mr. Nyesom Wike was last week reported saying he wrote advising Borno not to hold examinations in Chibok. There was nothing like that. “You can see that these correspondences contradict the first terms of reference of the Presidential Fact-Finding Committee which was that the committee should establish circumstances why GGSS Chibok was opened when others were closed. “WAEC clearly knew that not only GGSS Chibok was opened for examinations.” A source, who pleaded no to be named because he is not permitted to speak officially, added: “Also relating to the Chibok incident, a document showed that WAEC had written another letter to Borno State Government with reference number MD/ZO/OA/10/204, dated May 10, 2014 requesting for financial assistance. “Titled ‘May/June 2014 WASSCE-logistics for conduct of examinations’, signed by the WAEC zonal coordinator, F.M. Gaiya , the body made a submission to the Borno State Government demanding the release of N1, 668,000(one million six hundred and sixty eight thousand Naira) out of which the state government released N1,500,00( One million, five hundred thousand Naira )which the zonal coordinator received. “All the correspondences seem to suggest that both the WAEC and the Borno State Government did not anticipate security challenges in Chibok.”