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Posts tagged as “Chibok Boarding School”

Nigerian Government Negotiates Release of 82 Chibok Girls From Boko Haram

(photo via cnn.com)

Lagos, Nigeria – Eighty-two Chibok schoolgirls have been released after successful negotiations between the terrorist group Boko Haram and the Nigerian government, the Nigerian President’s office said.
A government official close to the negotiations told CNN the freed girls are in military custody in Banki, a town in northeast Nigeria. They will be transferred to the capital, Abuja, where they will have medical checks and be reunited with their families. They are believed to be among the 276 girls, ages 16 to 18, forced from their beds by Boko Haram militants in the middle of the night in April 2014.
The kidnapping from a boarding school in the town of Chibok sparked global outrage and the social media movement #BringBackOurGirls.”I am very, very excited with this development. I cannot even sleep tonight,” said Yana Galang, whose daughter, Rifkatu, was among the girls kidnapped. Galang said they don’t yet know who has been released, “but we’re very happy that many have been freed.” “I hope and pray that my daughter is among these released girls,” she added.
Some Boko Haram suspects being held by the Nigerian government were released as part of the negotiations, President Muhammadu Buhari‘s office said Saturday. “The President has repeatedly expressed his total commitment towards ensuring the safe return of the #ChibokGirls, and all other Boko Haram captives,” Buhari’s office said in a statement.Buhari will meet with the girls in Abuja on Sunday, his office said.
To read full article, go to: 82 Chibok girls released – CNN.com

Boko Haram to Release Kidnapped Nigerian Schoolgirls

On Friday, Nigeria’s government announced it had reached a deal with Boko Haram to release the approximately 200 schoolgirls held captive by the Islamist terror group since April.
The agreement, announced by the country’s defense minister, also involves a cease fire between Boko Haram and Nigeria’s military. The government expects the terror group will not back out on the deal. “Commitment among parts of Boko Haram and the military does appear to be genuine,” an official with Nigeria’s security forces told Reuters Friday. “It is worth taking seriously.”
Boko Haram militants abducted more than 300 schoolgirls from Chibok boarding school in northern Nigeria in mid-April, sparking a worldwide outcry and propelling the group onto to the international stage for the first time. Over fifty of the girls escaped early on. The rest have remained in captivity ever since.
Boko Haram, whose name roughly means “Western education is sinful,” has been terrorizing Nigeria since 2009 in an effort to return the country to the pre-colonial era of Muslim rule. Over the past half-decade, the Islamist group has killed approximately 5,000 Nigerians the group regards as pro-government in attacks on schools, churches, and mosques, as well as military checkpoints, police stations, highways, and a bus station in the capital city of Abuja.

article by Michelle Denise Jackson via forharriet.com