Twenty-one of the more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamist Boko Haram insurgents in April 2014 were released to the Nigerian government today!
The sources disclosed that the girls were picked up by military helicopter from Banki area of Borno state where Boko Haram militants dropped them off earlier today.
The 21 Chibok girls who were released to the government were exchanged for four Boko Haram prisoners in Banki , an offical of Ministry of Information said. “It’s true. Ministry of Information will release a statement on the issue later,” the source said .
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed this in a statement made available to journalists.
Shehu said the released girls were currently in the custody of the Department of State Services. He said the Director-General of the DSS, Lawal Daura, briefed President Muhammadu Buhari of the development shortly before the President left for Germany.
abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls by Boko Haram jihadists from the
remote town of Chibok in northeastern Nigeria more than two years ago.
backed by personalities including US First Lady Michelle Obama and Nobel
Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai.
responsibility for the mass abduction in a video released on May 5, and
vows to sell the girls as slave brides.
the missing girls. Boko Haram says they have converted to Islam and
will not be released unless militant fighters held in custody are freed.
Nigeria vow to fight Boko Haram together, in what Cameroon President
Paul Biya terms a “declaration of war”.
amount to crimes against humanity,” as Britain, China, France, Israel
and the US offer help.
Badeh says the girls have been located but warns a rescue operation
would put their lives at risk.
with Nigerian authorities and says the girls have converted to Islam and
been “married off”.
Muhammadu Buhari warns he “cannot promise that we can find” the girls,
as vigils are held in many countries to mark their first year in
captivity.
been separated into three or four groups and are being held in camps,
some of which might be in Cameroon or Chad.
negotiate with any “credible” Boko Haram leadership, a week after
claiming the country has “technically” won the war against Boko Haram.
the rescue of hundreds of people, most of them women and children, who
have been kidnapped by Boko Haram.
increase against “soft” civilian targets such as mosques, markets and
bus stations, fuelling fears that Boko Haram might be using its
captives.
seized 500 women and children from the north east town of Damasak in
Borno state just months after the Chibok abduction. The kidnapping was denied at the time.
that Boko Haram has sent a “proof of life” video which shows 15 of the
girls, the first concrete indication that at least some are still alive.
first of the schoolgirls has been found. The 19-year-old, who later met
President Buhari, was discovered with a four-month-old baby and a man
she described as her husband near Boko Haram’s Sambisa Forest enclave.
the release of 21 of the girls following talks between the government
and Boko Haram brokered by Switzerland and the International Red Cross.
Local sources say four jihadist prisoners were released as part of the
deal to secure the girls’ release.
that more releases could follow, with a senior official in the
president’s office saying that “the negotiations will continue”.