82 Chibok girls released.
- The west Africa based Islamic extremists Boko Haram has released 82 schoolgirls out of a group of more than 200 whom they kidnapped from the northeastern town of Chibok about three years ago. The release according to the Presidency, was in exchange for some Boko Haram fighters held by the Nigerian Government. This was made known by the presidency on Saturday 6th of May 2017.
Dozens escaped in the initial melee, but more than 200 remained missing for more than two years.
Nigeria thanked Switzerland and the International Committee of the Red Cross for helping secure the release of the 82 girls after "lengthy negotiations", the presidency said in a statement.
President Muhammadu Buhari will receive the girls on Sunday afternoon in the capital Abuja, it said, without saying how many Boko Haram suspects had been exchanged or disclosing other details.
A military source said the girls were brought on Sunday morning from Banki near the Cameroon border to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state where the insurgency started.
The release of the girls may give a boost to Buhari who has hardly appeared in public since returning from Britain in March for treatment of an unspecified illness.
He made crushing the insurgency a pillar of his election campaign in 2015.
The army has retaken most of the territory initially lost to the militants but attacks and suicide bombings by the group have made it nearly impossible for displaced persons to return to their recaptured hometowns.
"The President directed the security agencies to continue in earnest until all the Chibok girls have been released and reunited with their families," the presidency said.
More than 20 girls were released last October in a deal brokered by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Others have escaped or been rescued, but 195 were believed to be still in captivity.
The Nigerian leader, President Buhari said last month that the government was in talks to secure the release of the remaining captives.
Nigerians are hoping that every single person held captive by the Boko Haram sect will be set free as the Nigerian Military and International community seems to be doing a great job to rid the once deadly group from existence.
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