The recent attack by suspected Boko Haram insurgents on a college in restive northeast Nigeria's Yobe and the following confusion with regard to the actual number of missing schoolgirls is bringing back memories of the 2014 Chibok attack.

The insurgents on Monday night attacked Government Girls' Science Technical College in Dapchi, Bursari Local Government Area, and abducted some of the students.

There have been conflicting reports on the incidence among state and federal institutions and officials.

The state government said at least 46 were missing. Other reports put the figure at 13.

The governor of Nigeria's northeastern state of Yobe, Ibrahim Gaidam, on Thursday said none of the schoolgirls declared missing after an attack by terror group Boko Haram earlier this week was rescued by the military.

Over 94 students were missing at first, and the state government said 28 returned late Tuesday and 20 more came back early Wednesday.

This draws dreadful and eerie similarities with the confusion that surrounded official communication following the abduction of Chibok girls on April 14, 2014 who have remained with the Boko Haram terrorists for more than 1,400 days.

A total of 276 girls were seized by armed men who stormed their dormitories on the night of April 14, 2014, at the Girls Secondary School in Chibok town of Borno State.

Only 107 of the Chibok girls have been rescued or returned amid ongoing government negotiation with Boko Haram.

There were speculations that some of the girls had been married off by their abductors, while many had been forced to carry out suicide attacks for Boko Haram.

The abduction caused global outrage, with many prominent people across the globe demanding their release, and action by the government in that regard.

For the Bring Back Our Girls Group agitating for the release of the abducted Chibok school girls, the latest development was a sad one.

Sesugh Akume, a spokesperson for the group, said the limited information so far offered the public on the attack of their school and the girls' rescue clearly raise crucial questions that demand prompt answers.

"We call on the federal government, the Yobe state government and the Nigerian military, the Nigeria Police Force, and other relevant authorities to promptly investigate this with utmost sense of urgency, and ensure to communicate factually to avert the tragedy of Chibok Girls abduction," Akume added.

Bukar Ibrahim, a Senator from Yobe, insisted that 46 students were still missing and condemned the attack on the school as well as the resurgence of insurgency.

According to him, there is a need for the federal government to urgently recover the girls in order not to repeat the Chibok girls' experience.

In his remark, the Deputy President, of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, said the incident provided a reason for another level of policing.

"We are aware that the military and indeed the police are overstretched to their limits at this period of insecurity.

"That is what makes a stronger case for another level of policing because if you are now asking the military and the police to provide security in all the schools, they cannot have the number to do so," he said.

As expected, President Muhammadu Buhari has directed security agencies to take immediate charge of the situation in Dapchi.

Dapchi is 100 kilometers from Damaturu, the Yobe State capital. It is 75 kilometers south of the Nigerian border with Niger Republic.

Minister of Information Lai Mohammed told reporters after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting that the President also directed the Minister to Defense Mansur Dan-Ali, Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama, and himself to proceed to Yobe State Thursday on a fact-finding mission. 

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