Boko Haram frees 76 of 110 schoolgirls
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Boko Haram Islamists who kidnapped 110 schoolgirls in Dapchi, northeast Nigeria, just over a month ago have returned 76 of them to the town, the government said yesterday.
Information Minister Lai Mohammed said the release was “unconditional” and the result of “back-channel efforts” with the help of “some friends of the country,” without elaborating.
“The 76 are those who have been documented so far,” he said, adding that they were released at about 3am and that a full head-count was under way.
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari said last week the government had “chosen negotiation” to secure the return of the Dapchi girls rather than use military force.
Mohammed said: “For the release to work, the government had a clear understanding that violence and confrontation would not be the way out as it could endanger the lives of the girls, hence a non-violent approach was preferred.”
Nigeria’s presidency said separately that the girls were in the custody of the country’s intelligence agency, the Department of State Services.
The Dapchi kidnapping on February 19 brought back painful memories of a similar abduction in Chibok in April 2014, when more than 200 girls were abducted.
Aisha Alhaji Deri, a 16-year-old student who was among those kidnapped in Dapchi, told reporters that they were not mistreated during their time in captivity.
But she added: “When we were being taken away, five of us died on the way.
“They brought us back this morning, dropped us outside the motor park and said we should all go home and not go to the military because they’ll claim to have rescued us.”
Boko Haram has used kidnapping as a weapon of war during its nearly nine-year insurgency which has claimed at least 20,000 lives.
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