As the President Muhammadu Buhari regime of eight years marred with mass school children abductions by terror groups gradually winds down, Femi Adesina, spokesperson for the regime, admitted that Mr Buhari failed to rescue Leah Sharibu and four others among school children abducted by Boko Haram in Dapchi, Yobe State since 2019. 

“Dachi girls were taken under the administration, and within the week they were recovered except maybe five including Leah Sharibu sadly,” Mr Adesina said in an interview with Channels TV Thursday, arguing that Mr Buhari’s regime cannot be blamed for not rescuing all Chibok girls who were long abducted on 2014 before he assumed office in 2015.

Mr Adesina’s statement comes almost five years after over 100 Dapchi schoolgirls were abducted by Boko Haram terrorists. Some of the girls were later released, but Ms Sharibu, a Christian who refused to renounce her faith and others have remained in captivity since then. 

Speaking about Chibok girls, Mr Adesina said, “over 100 (Chibok girls) have been returned by the administration.”

“If a government came in when the trail was already cold and you couldn’t trace where the girls were taken, you can’t then blame it solely for not bringing them back, that would not be quite right,” he added.

Under Mr Buhari’s watch, Nigerians witnessed several mass school children abduction for ransom as Boko Haram and bandits ravaged North-East and North Central, respectively.

In coordinated attacks, bandits have abducted hundreds of school children for ransom in Zamfara, Kaduna, Niger, Katsina and Kebbi, forcing intermittent school closures. 

With incessant attacks on schools, the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria rose from 10.5 in 2015 to 18.5 million under the Buhari regime, United Nations Children’s Fund said.