A total of 76 of the 110 schoolgirls abducted in Dapchi, Yobe State have so far been released by their Boko Haram abductors.
This is according to the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, in a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday.
Signed by Segun Adeyemi, his Special Assistant, he said the girls’ freedom was in line with the directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to all security agencies to do everything possible to secure their release.
They were abducted in their school on19 Feb. 2018.
The minister said the presidential directive has now yielded fruits, with the confirmed release of 76 of the 110 abducted students in the early hours of Wednesday.
The statement said the 76 are those who have been documented so far, adding that the release of the abducted students is ongoing.
According to the minister, the girls were released around 3:00 a.m. through back-channel efforts and with the help of some friends of the country, and that it was unconditional.
The statement added: ”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 the preferred option.
”Within the period when the girls were being brought back, the operational pause was observed in certain areas to ensure free passage and also that lives were not lost.”
He said the number of the freed girls would be updated after the remaining ones have been documented, especially because the girls were not handed over to anyone but dropped off in Dapchi.
and then