Notorious terrorist leader, Dogo Gide, is alleged to have married off 11 of the captives abducted from the Federal Government College Birnin Yauri, Kebbi State.
Sani Kaoje, the father of one of the students, Farida Kaoje, 16, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with PremiumTimes .
On the 17th of June 2021, terrorists invaded the school and abducted over 90 pupils and teachers of the school.
Immediately after the attack, the military announced the rescue of 5 students and 2 teachers. Two days later, 3 pupils and a teacher were rescued by the military. 2 students also escaped from the terrorists’ camp.
In October, the Kebbi State Government said it secured the release of 30 students through dialogue with the terrorists.
The government said it was making effort to release the rest of the girls. In January 2022, the terrorists freed 30 more pupils following further mediation with the government.
In the interview, the retired civil servant turned farmer revealed why the bandit leader behind the abduction married off the remaining 11 girls including his daughter, Farida.
“Farida is one of my children. She is now 16 years (she was 15 when she was abducted). She was in JSS three. I’ve 19 children alive including her. Farida is the 15th of my children. I’ve 3 wives,” he said.
“I was having my breakfast in the morning when Farida’s mother ran into my room shouting. She said she heard that FGC Birnin Yauri has been attacked and pupils abducted. I rushed to the school and met other parents there. At first, the school management and security people denied us entry but they later let us in after confirming we had children in the school
“An hour after the abduction, Farida called me with her friend’s phone. She told me that “Baba, we’ve been abducted and they said they’re taking us to a forest in Zamfara state.” I calmed her down. I told her that God would save them from all evil. That was the end of our conversation at the time.
He confirmed that that there was an alert that the pupils would be abducted.
“Even the terrorist leader Dogo Gide himself told me that he wrote to the school twice before he attacked it. They were just not serious about it. But he said he alerted them. The school, I was told, said the letters were written by some students. I don’t actually know how they handled it since I was not a party to it,”
“But this school is obviously vulnerable to attack. These bandits follow behind the school’s walls to perpetrate violence on other communities. The signs were there. The authority should have known that the school would soon be attacked. Some of the pupils were rescued by security agents while others were returned after payment of ransom or other agreements with the state government. Asked why his own child not released, he said;
“I don’t understand the way this government does things. I thought when they were doing the rescue operations, they would emphasise saving girls first because of their vulnerability. They should have negotiated and got the girls first but they didn’t.
“What I know is anyone that you’ve seen now was rescued by the government. The governor (Kebbi state) did his best immediately after the abduction. He tried his best and the first set was brought back and he did it the second time
“We waited to hope that they would rescue our child but we heard nothing. No one is telling us anything anymore. Even when we tried to reach them, they would tell us that the governor has gone to Abuja. Sometimes when we call them they won’t answer their phones
“I don’t know if some others were invited or were allowed to go see them (government), especially the Secretary to the State Government but I don’t know if there was anything like that. But as for me, I’ve not met anyone of them.
“He said he has a problem with the government and that the government is not responsible, and he would only collect ransom from them. If you have a problem with the government, why abduct innocent children? He should be disturbing government people and not the poor. The pupils he abducted were all innocent.
Asked if he had spoken to his daughter while she was in captivity and if she confirmed that they had been married, Mr Kaoje said; “Yes. And it breaks my heart to even remember her voice. We spoke with her a lot. And I cry every day he (Mr Gide) called and let us speak with her. In one of such calls, she said “Baba, there is a problem because some of my friends have been married off”. After that, Dogo Gide himself confirmed to us that they had been married off since the government has refused to pay them.
“We’ve just resorted to praying for Allah to intervene. It’s no longer in our control because they said since the government has refused to pay them they would marry them off for good. But we want our children back home and we’ll continue to pray because it’s the only way out.”
Read also:
13 Kidnapped Students of FGC Kebbi Still in Bandits’ Captivity, 15 Months On
Terrorist Leader Allegedly Marries off 11 Abducted Captives
terrorist leader