Security has been beefed up at Government College as well as Mount Saint Gabriel, Makurdi, following the alleged receipt of a letter purportedly written by the dreaded Boko Haram sect of an impending invasion of the colleges to abduct the students.
According to the Principal of Government College, Mr. Ugudu Geoffrey, the letter which was dated May 14, 2014 purportedly written by Boko Haram threatened to invade the school on Monday, May 19 with the intention to abduct some boys whom they would marry off to the girls who were abducted from Government Girls College, Chibok, Borno State.
Two letters were said to have been written in both pidgin and English with the same content notifying the authority of their impending attack. One was found in one of the classrooms and the second inside one of the staff rooms.
“It is true that we saw letters informing us of the invasion of our school last Friday or Monday by Boko Haram. The letters were dated 14th May, 2014 stating that they were coming either of the two days to abduct our boys whom they would marry to the Chibok abducted secondary schoolgirls in Borno.”
“In the letter, we were asked to inform the Mount Saint Gabriel Secondary School opposite us to also get prepared as they promised to invade the place too. Immediately we got the letters, we alerted policemen and the state Commissioner for Education who quickly informed the governor about the issue,” the principal said.
When Sunday Sun visited the school on Saturday afternoon, heavily armed policemen were seen keeping surveillance on the school while thorough checks were also being carried out on visitors into the school premises.
Similar security measure was also put in place at Mount Saint Gabriel School. Effort to speak with the school authority was not successful as newsmen were barred from gaining entry into the compound. Both schools are boys only with about 500 out of over 700 students of Government College in boarding house, while Mount Saint Gabriel operates full boarding.
The principal commended the state government and security operatives in the state for prompt response.
The Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO) SP Daniel Ezeala confirmed the report and assured that police was on top of the situation.
