FG Gives Details Of How Dapchi Schoolgirls Were Released

The Federal Government said the release of the schoolgirls was the outcome of the directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to all security agencies to secure the release of the schoolgirls. According to the government, the girls were released through back channel efforts and with the help of some friends of the country” adding that their release was unconditional.

A statement by 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 the preferred option.

"When the girls were being brought back, an operational pause was observed in certain areas to ensure free passage and to prevent loss of lives”A Federal Government delegation, comprising the Ministers of Information and Culture, Mohammed; Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau; and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Khadijah Ibrahim, were sent to Maiduguri to meet with the freed girls.

Mohammed told journalists before the delegation left that "the girls were released unconditionally. No money changed hands” "They (Boko Haram) only had one condition: that they will be the ones to return them (schoolgirls) to where they abducted them. In the early hours of today (Wednesday), they returned the girls and most of them went to their parents homes”

"The girls were not dropped in one place. Some were left by the roadside and they naturally went back to their parents’ houses. "They have been asked to come for documentation at a centre in the area”When asked how a boy was among those released when the school where they were abducted is only girls school, Mohammed said, "Whether they picked the boy or not, I can't hazard any guess; but don't forget that even in a girls school, which is a boarding school, there will be parents.

There are teachers who have children among them. Mohammed said apart from security that had been beefed up in schools in the area, the Federal Government was considering merging some schools as a way of preventing a recurrence.bHe said the freed girls had been attended to at the Dapchi General Hospital as part of their rehabilitation programmes.

"Just as we did when we had the first and second sets of released Chibok girls, they will be quarantined and be psychologically counselled before they go back to school”he said. The Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, who is from Yobe State, expressed delight that the girls had been released.