Mrs. Asabe Kwambura, Principal of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State in Nigeria’s troubled North-East, has confessed to poor judgement culminating in the abduction, on Monday night, of her students to Boko Haram terrorists who posed as Nigerian peace-keeping soldiers.

The number of abducted students is given by government as 129 but the school and the local community say up to 247 were taken away.

An Associated Press report released yesterday quoted Mrs. Kwambura as telling its correspondent that the insurgents arrived at the school after midnight, wearing military fatigues and posing as soldiers.

“She said she believed them when they told her that they needed to move the girls for their own safety. So, she allowed the extremists posing as soldiers to load the students on to the back of a truck,” the report said, adding:

“It was only as the armed men were leaving, and started shooting, that she realised her mistake. The militants killed a soldier and a police officer guarding the school.”

Nigeria’s Defence Ministry had on Wednesday night claimed that 107 of the abducted schoolgirls had been rescued but retracted the story last night, blaming Mrs. Kwambura for the wrong information.

•Photo courtesy of Nigerian Tribune.