Nigeria’s Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed has said that only 76 out of 110 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram have been released.
This is contrary to claims by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, who siad 105 girls have been released by their abductors.
Shehu, had earlier on Wednesday, told NAN that the girls who were abducted from Government Girls’ Science and Technical School, Dapchi, Yobe state, were on their way home.
But, a statement issued by Segun Adeyemi, the Media Aide to the mInister of information, reads in full:
“The directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to all security agencies to do everything possible to secure the release of the Dapchi schoolgirls, who were abducted 19 Feb. 2018, has yielded fruits, with
the confirmed release of 76 of the 110 abducted students in the early hours of Wednesday.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the 76 are those who have been documented so far, adding that the release of the abducted students is ongoing.
He said the girls were released around 3 a.m. through back-channel efforts and with the help of some friends of the country, and that it was unconditional.
”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.
”Within the period when the girls were being brought back, operational pause was observed in certain areas to ensure free passage and also that lives were not lost,” Alhaji Mohammed said.
He said the number of the freed girls would be updated after the remaining ones have been documented, especially because the girls were not handed over to anyone but dropped off in Dapchi.
