Buhari Says Missing Nigerian School Girls Will Be Rescued

(Bloomberg) -- Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari said he was confident that 110 girls missing after militants attacked their school in the northeastern town of Dapchi would be rescued.

“I have no doubt that the Dapchi girls will be rescued or released,” Buhari said in a speech in Damaturu, the capital of Yobe state, in which Dapchi is located, according to a statement from the presidency Wednesday. “I want to reassure parents, Nigerians and the international community that we will do all that is within our power to make sure that the girls are brought back safely to their families.”

The 75-year-old president later went to the secondary school where the girls were abducted on Feb. 19 and met with some parents and teachers, according to his aides’ Twitter accounts.

Yobe is one of the states affected by Boko Haram’s nine-year insurgency, which has caused tens of thousands of deaths. The Islamist group captured 276 school girls in 2014 from the town of Chibok, which sparked a social media campaign known as #BringBackOurGirls championed by then-U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama.

--With assistance from Paul Wallace

To contact the reporters on this story: Mustapha Muhammad in Kano at mmuhammad10@bloomberg.net, Michael Olukayode in Maiduguri at molugbode1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dana El Baltaji at delbaltaji@bloomberg.net, Liezel Hill, Andre Janse van Vuuren

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