Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has
addressed the press on the latest development in the saga of the abducted
Chibok Girls'. According to him, the government can confirm that 21 of the girls
were released, safely, 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.
"We expect the released girls to land in Abuja shortly.
Ahead of their arrival, we have assembled a team of medical doctors,
psychologists, social workers, trauma experts, etc to properly examine the
girls, especially because they have been in captivity for so long. 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.
"As we have always said, we have been working on the safe
release of the girls and following all the leads available. In this instance,
the moment we had a credible lead, Mr President gave the green-light to the DSS
to pursue it.
"We can confirm that the DSS pursued the lead in
collaboration with a friendly European country and a renowned international
humanitarian organization. The DSS was supported by the military.
"As soon as the necessary confidence was built on both
sides, the parties agreed on the date and the location of the release of the 21
girls. 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.
"We want to thank all Nigerians for their support and for
never losing confidence in the ability of Mr. President to secure the safe
release of our Chibok Girls," he said.
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