Nigeria Chibok Girls: 82 Freed by Boko Haram

The president’s departure followed a significant breakthrough in the long-running saga of the Chibok girls.

“As a mediator, it is not part of my mandate to force them (to return home)”, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in the capital Abuja.

“The party urges the President to stay steadfast in his commitment to see to the release of all the girls and thousands of others being held captive by the insurgents, and to bring this ugly episode to a closure”, APC added.

Nigerian girls protest against the abduction of Chibok school girls by Boko Haram militants at the Ministry of Education in Abuja, Nigeria, April 14, 2015.

President Muhammadu Buhari has described the release of 82 abducted Chibok girls as a pleasant 2nd anniversary gift to Nigerians.

After an initial release of 21 Chibok girls in October, the government denied making an exchange or paying ransom.

After many years far from their families, over 80 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram have been finally released in Nigeria.

Bring back our girls campaigners chant slogans and sing during a protest calling on the government to rescue the remaining kidnapped girls of the government secondary school who were abducted nearly three years ago, in Lagos, Nigeria, April. “Our hopes and expectations are high as we look forward to this news being true and confirmed”, the campaign said.

After he became president, Buhari pledged that his government would do all it could to rescue the girls, including exchanges, said Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed in a statement Monday, calling the criticism insensitive.

The post Dozens of Nigerian school girls freed by Boko Haram appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

May 6, 2017: Nigeria’s government says another 82 schoolgirls are released.

The ICRC said it had acted as a neutral intermediary to transport the girls into Nigerian custody.

Human rights advocates also fear some of the girls have been used by Boko Haram to carry out suicide bombings.

An advocacy group, #BringBackOurGirls, that has been working toward their rescue said it is “exceedingly delighted” at the release of 82 of the girls who had remained missing since the mass abduction in April 2017.

A military source said the girls were now in Banki near the Cameroon border for medical checks before being airlifted to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

Although the Nigerian government a year ago claimed to have “crushed” the militant group, its members have continued to carry out attacks. Its insurgency has killed more than 20,000 people and driven 2.6 million from their homes, with millions facing starvation.