Boko Haram Frees 82 More Chibok Girls
There are indications Saturday evening that the Islamist terrorist group, Boko Haram, has released a batch of more than 80 of the Chibok high school girls who were abducted in mid-April 2014.
But there were conflicting figures on the number of the Chibok girls freed by the terrorist group.
While an online news medium, SaharaReporters quoted 80, Aljazeera said 62 of the girls were released while Segun Adeyemi, an aide to Information Minister, Lai Muhammed said 82 were released in a facebook post.
SaharaReporters’ said the release of the 80 abducted school girls came after further negotiations between the Islamist group and the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
The 82 girls who just regained their freedom are currently in Banki town in Borno state awaiting airlift to an unknown destination.
The source added that once the girls are secured in a new location they would be debriefed, undergo a psycological and medical test and then be reunited with their families.
Also the Britain and the United States on Friday said Boko Haram was preparing to kidnap foreigners in remote northeast Nigeria, which is in the grip of a food crisis caused by the conflict.
The Foreign Office in London said it had received reports the Islamist militants were “actively planning” to seize foreign workers in the Bama local government area of Borno state.
Both said in travel advice that the affected area was “along the Banki-Kumshe axis”, which is near the border with Cameroon.
The US embassy in Abuja said in a message to its nationals that the report was “credible”.
Boko Haram has kidnapped thousands of women and children, including more than 200 schoolgirls from the Borno town of Chibok in 2014, which brought the conflict to world attention. At least 20,000 people have been killed since 2009.
As at the time of filing this report, there was no official confirmation from any senior government officials.
