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Freeing remaining Chibok girls my priority, says Buhari

By Abisola Olasupo
04 December 2018   |   1:33 pm
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said Tuesday the "key priority" of his administration is to ensure that the remaining kidnapped Chibok school girls are released by their abductors. "We will continue to make the safe release of the remaining Chibok girls a priority and will welcome any kind of support from any quarters to make this…

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said Tuesday the “key priority” of his administration is to ensure that the remaining kidnapped Chibok school girls are released by their abductors.

“We will continue to make the safe release of the remaining Chibok girls a priority and will welcome any kind of support from any quarters to make this happen,” Buhari said in Katowice, Poland, at a bilateral meeting with Swiss President Alain Berset, on the margins of the UN Climate Change Conference, COP24.

The President also “thanked the Swiss Confederation for its efforts and important role as intermediaries to secure the release of some Chibok girls.”

The 276 Chibok school girls were kidnapped four years ago from their school dormitory on April 14, 2018, in Chibok town, Borno State.

Fifty-seven of them escaped while being taken away, three others were found or rescued by the military.

On October 13, 2016, 21 of the girls were freed after the Swiss government and international Committee of Red Cross brokered a deal between Boko Haram and the Nigerian government.

On May 6, 2017, the Nigerian government said the 82 of the schoolgirls freed in exchnage for some suspected members of the terror group held by the authorities.

“Today, 82 more Chibok Girls were released. After lengthy negotiations, our security agencies have taken back these girls, in exchange for some Boko Haram suspects held by the authorities,” presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said in a statement without being specific on the number of the terrorists freed.

Till date about 112 of the Chibok girls are still languishing in captivity, despite all assurances by the Nigerian government that they would be rescued and reunited with their families.

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