User:Xurizuri/Bajoga

From ____ to ___ December 2014, Boko Haram attacked Bajoga and the surrounding area.

Kidnap attempt and evacuation
On 4 December 2014, a kidnap attempt by the terrorist organisation Boko Haram occurred in Bajoga, a town in Gombe State, Nigeria. Due to action on early intelligence, this was foiled by security forces and local community groups. 470 girls from Federal Government Girls College (FGGC) Bajoga were rescued.

Initial photos of the event were made available online by Aisha Yesufu, a Bring Back Our Girls campaigner. The rescue was later attributed to I G Wala, a civil rights activist, Bring Back Our Girls campaigner and leader of the National Consensus Movement, whose niece was one of the girls evacuated. He was accompanied by Inuwa Garba, then speaker of the Gombe State House of Assembly, who personally intervened at a government checkpoint which had prevented the entry of buses that were intended to rescue the girls from the remote village they had escaped to. The kidnapping attempt occurred several months after the 2014 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping, which occurred in Borno State in Nigeria.

During an attack by Boko Haram on Bajoga on 4 December 2014, they entered the school compound. A teacher at the school alerted I G Wala over the phone while the girls and teachers fled, and remained in contact with him via text until they were rescued. I G Wala claimed that the Nigerian military refused to send in aid for the students, although they did provide two armoured vehicles for the civilian rescuers to use. The military refused to confirm these claims as of February 2015. The images released by Yesufu indicated military involvement. The assault on Bajoga continued for several days.

Factors contributing to the need for FGGC students to flee have been identified by the Center for Civilians in Conflict including insufficient security personnel protecting the town as a whole or schools (which are known targets for Boko Haram and other militant groups) and insufficient communication methods to warn citizens of the attack.

Following the attack, the girls were instructed to attend school at FGGC Billiri. By February 2015, the girls were back at FGGC Bajoga, although many students were withdrawn from the school by their parents. A heavy military presence was now in the town, however there was no additional security presence allocated to the school.

Due to the attack the local prison was closed down until 2018.