By Sodiq Adewale Chocomilo

The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has disclosed that the abduction of more than 250 schoolgirls in Chibok in April 2014 may not have occurred if the then governor of Borno State, Senator Kashim Shettima, had heeded the advice of the examination body.

Recall that on Sunday, Shettima was announced as the running mate of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu.

On April 14, 2014, the schoolgirls were abducted when insurgents attacked the Government Girls’ Secondary School (GGSS) in Chibok, Borno State.

The abduction of the girls in 2014 was followed by a global outcry that birthed the #BringBackOurGirls movement.

Aware of the poor security situation in Borno and worried about the safety of students, WAEC had declined to conduct its Senior School Certificate Examination in unsafe parts of Borno, including Chibok.

But that was until Shettima assured of adequate security measures.

According to the then Head of WAEC National Office in Nigeria, Charles Eguridu, the body was initially reluctant to conduct its examination in Chibok and other troubled areas of the North-East because of the security challenges.

It, however, had to buckle when Shettima assured the Council, in writing, that adequate security would be provided.

“Following the previous experience, we were afraid to go to the North-East this year, yet we risked it and asked for extra security through the Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike,” the official had said.

“We also asked the various state governments to relocate all the centres to the state capitals where there would be adequate security.

“The three governors did not respond to our request but instead said they had made adequate security arrangements. The Borno State government also refused to relocate the students from Chibok to safer places like Maiduguri.”

The WAEC official also tendered the letters written to the governors of Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe to prove his claim.

He added that another factor that influenced WAEC’s decision to ask that all centres be moved to the state capitals was the death of three of its staff while conducting a similar examination in a school along the Yola-Maiduguri road in 2013.

The Borno governor, who initially declined transferring the final year students from centres in remote areas like Chibok to the state capital, finally agreed to do so after the kidnap, Eguridu said.

“Borno State government only agreed to relocate the remaining 189 pupils after the abduction of the girls,” he said.