Several Dozen Chibok Girls Released After 3 Years by Boko Haram in Nigeria

Up to 82 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls are released by Boko Haram - more than THREE YEARS after they were abducted

By Paddy Dinham For Mailonline

Up to 82 Chibok schoolgirls have been released by Islamist Boko Haram militants on after more than three years in captivity, a Nigerian government spokesman said.

They are the largest group yet to be freed after years of tense negotiations between the government and the terrorist group.

The girls were among about 220 students abducted from a secondary school in the northeastern town of Chibok in 2014, sparking a global campaign #bringbackourgirls supported by then U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama and list of celebrities.

The release of 82 Chibok schoolgirls by Boko Haram brought emotional scenes from their families in Nigeria

This mother is tearfully reunited with her daughter after three years, in which the girl has been living under the captivity of the terror group

Another woman cannot hide her emotion as the girls came back to their village earlier today

They are the largest group yet to be freed after years of tense negotiations between the government and the terrorist group

21 Chibok girls were released in October in a deal brokered by Switzerland and the International Red Cross, while a handful of others have escaped or been rescued. 

However, a large number of the girls are still missing. 

'The government will soon release an official statement,' a government spokesman said.

Last month President Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement that the government was 'in constant touch through negotiations, through local intelligence to secure the release of the remaining girls and other abducted persons unharmed'. 

The girls were taken from a school in Chibok in the remote northeastern Borno state where Boko Haram has waged an insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic state that has killed thousands and displaced more than 2 million people. 

Up to 82 Chibok schoolgirls have been released by Islamist Boko Haram militants on after more than three years in captivity

21 Chibok girls were released in October in a deal brokered by Switzerland and the International Red Cross 

Although the Chibok girls are the most high-profile case, Boko Haram has kidnapped thousands of adults and children, many of whose cases have been neglected.

The militants have killed more than 20,000 people and displaced more than 2 million during their insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic caliphate in northeast Nigeria.

- Where they can practice their religion of peace!

Despite the army saying the insurgency is on the run, large parts of the northeast, particularly in Borno state, remain under threat from the militants, and suicide bombings and gun attacks have increased in the region since the end of the rainy season late last year. 

This is great news, and I rejoice with the girls and their families and pray for a successful transition back into society. But that will not be easy, I'm afraid. 

Also, there are still thousands of children and adults being held against their will and used as slaves and sex-slaves by Boko Haram. 

Meet The Rescued Chibok Girl as Army Says a Second Girl Rescued

Second Chibok girl found as Nigeria's Buhari meets first rescued student

Ola Awonyi with Bukar Hussain in Maiduguri


Amina Ali with her young baby was rescued by Nigerian authorities on May 18, 2016 after being one of 219 girls abducted by Boko Haram gunmen in 2014 (AFP Photo/)

Abuja, Nigeria (AFP) - A second Chibok schoolgirl has been rescued, Nigeria's army said Thursday, after President Muhammadu Buhari met the first student to be found and voiced fresh hope for the recovery of the more than 200 others still being held.

In a brief statement just hours after Buhari's meeting with student Amina Ali in the capital, Abuja, army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman "confirmed the rescue of another Chibok girl this evening".

Two years ago when the girls were first taken there were all sorts of reports of girls being rescued coming from the army. Virtually all of them were completely false. You will forgive me if I have some doubt about the veracity of this report, but it's possible that they are just embarrassed by Amina being found by civilian volunteers rather than the army.

On the other hand, what was done under the hapless Jonathon Goodluck bears little relation to what is happening under Buhari. Not that he has been able to rid Nigeria of it 'fantastic corruption', to quote David Cameron, but at least the military is doing something. 

We should certainly be praying for these girls and the soldier's attempts to rescue them.

Further details on the release would be given "soon", he added.



Amina, 19, who now has an infant daughter, was discovered by civilian vigilantes and troops on Tuesday and flew with her mother Binta to meet the president at his official Aso Rock residence.

Buhari said he was "delighted" at her release and the government was doing "all it can to rescue the remaining Chibok girls", who were abducted from the remote town in northeast Nigeria on April 14, 2014.


Amina and baby meet President Buhari

"Amina's rescue gives us new hope, and offers a unique opportunity for vital information," he said.

A total of 276 girls were kidnapped from the Government Girls Secondary School. Fifty-seven escaped in the hours that followed.

The abduction provoked global outrage and brought worldwide attention to the conflict but until Amina and the latest student were found, there were few indications about their possible release.

- Reunion -


She must be in some level of shock

Community leaders said Amina told her relatives at a brief reunion at the family home in Mbalala, near Chibok, that most of the girls were still in the Sambisa Forest area of Borno state but six had died.

Nigeria's military has been conducting operations in the former game reserve for weeks in the hope of flushing out militants and destroying Islamist camps in the sprawling semi-desert scrubland.

Borno state governor Kashim Shettima said on Thursday soldiers were "already moving into the forest aggressively".

"I am an eternal optimist. I believe that in the coming days and weeks more recoveries will be made," he told reporters.

The abducted girls have long been thought to have been taken to the forest. Satellite imagery provided by the United States and Britain reportedly identified the location of some of the students.

But Nigeria's military failed to act on the intelligence, Britain's former ambassador to Nigeria has claimed.

Former president Goodluck Jonathan's delayed response to the abduction and overall handling of the insurgency was seen as a major factor in his election defeat to Buhari last year.

- Medical treatment -

Amina was brought to the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, by air force helicopter from Damboa 90 kilometres (56 miles) away along with her four-month-old baby and a man she said was her husband.

In photographs released by the military, she appeared tired and thin, as she held the baby, named Safiya, in her arms and apparently received medical care.

In another, her purported husband, identified by the army as "suspected Boko Haram terrorist" Mohammed Hayatu, cradled the infant on a hospital bed.

The army said he was "undergoing further investigation at (the) Joint Intelligence Centre" and was being "well-treated".

Boko Haram has used kidnapping as a weapon of war in the conflict, which has killed at least 20,000 people, forced 2.6 million from their homes and devastated the northeast since 2009.

Young women and girls have been forced to marry rebel fighters, becoming sex slaves and even suicide bombers in the group's campaign for a hardline Islamic state.

Men and boys have also been seized and forcibly conscripted.


Don't know if this man sitting beside her is the one she called her husband

- Victim support -

Boko Haram is thought to have kidnapped several thousand women and young girls and there have been calls for Nigeria to do more to support former hostages.

Buhari said Amina would receive "the best care the Nigerian government can afford" and disclosed she had undergone medical tests for about five hours and met Unicef trauma experts.

The resumption of her education would be "a priority", he added. "Every girl has the right to an education and a life choice," he said.

Francisca Vigaud-Walsh, from Refugees International (RI) said such specialised care was not available to most former hostages.

"On the contrary there is a seemingly arbitrary and haphazard approach to dealing with these women and girls," she said.

RI and other agencies have highlighted in particular the lack of facilities for victims of sexual violence and psychological services.

Northern Nigeria, which is largely Muslim, is deeply conservative and kidnap victims have reportedly been shunned on their return home.

UN rights experts said in January there was an "urgent and pressing need for effective measures to address stigma, ostracism and rejection of women and children" because of their abduction.