After what seemed like eternity, 21 of the over 200 girls kidnapped from their school in Chibok, Borno State, Nigeria in April 2014 have been released.
Officials of the Nigerian Government confirmed the release in Abuja, yesterday.
They are to be immediately attended to by a team of medical doctors, psychologists, social workers, trauma experts, the country’s Ministry of Information has announced.
In a statement confirming the release the Ministry indicated that the parents of the girls were being contacted.
“We can confirm that 21 of the girls were released, safely, to us by 5.30 this Thursday morning and they were flown to Kaduna from the location of their release. This is the most glaring manifestation to date of the unwavering commitment of Mr. President to secure the safe release of the girls and reunite them with their families. It is also a result of the round-the-clock efforts by the Administration to put a closure to the sad issue of the kidnap of the girls,” Segun Adeyemi, who served as Special Assistant to the Minister of Information and Culture said.
“ They will also be adequately debriefed. We have the list of the 21 girls but we are now contacting their parents as part of the necessary verification exercise. As soon as that is concluded, we will release the names to the public.”
Though details of the deal for the release of the girls are sketchy, there are talks that some top commanders of Boko Haram may have been swapped for the girls.
Adeyemi denies this, but stressed rather that it was as a result of ‘confidence was built on both sides, the parties agreed on the date and the location of the release of the 21 girls.”
He noted: “ Please note that this is not a swap. It is a release, the product of painstaking negotiations and trust on both sides.
“We see this as a credible first step in the eventual release of all the Chibok Girls in captivity. It is also a major step in confidence-building between us as a government and the Boko Haram leadership on the issue of the Chibok Girls.”
