Chibok Girls Release: What We Know So Far

Earlier, twenty-one of the over 200 abducted Chibok girls were released by Islamic militant group Boko Haram.

The schoolgirls had been kidnapped in April 2014 from a government secondary school in Chibok, Borno state.

Their fate after the kidnap wasn’t known until they appeared in a video released by the jihadist group which showed its leader Abubakar Shekau listing conditions to the Nigerian government for their release.

Chibok-girls-released-by-Boko-Haram-last-year-in-Hijabs.

This later gained worldwide attention due to the past administration’s lackadaisical manner in handling the situation.

However, their latest appearance was in a video released by the insurgents.

In the video, the alleged new leader of the sect, Abu Musab al-Barnawi, demanded an exchange of his detained fighters for the girls.

Chibok girls-Boko Haram (3)

The Nigerian government, after the video release, expressed its desire to negotiate the release of the abducted girls.

On Thursday, reports surfaced of the release of 21 of the girls.

Here’s what we know so far concerning the release of the 21 Chibok girls:

  1. The negotiations for their release was brokered by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Swiss government.
  2. The girls were reportedly swapped for four Boko Haram insurgents whose names were not released.
  3. The exchange took place Wednesday night when Nigerian military officials, alongside personnel of United Nations, Red Cross and National Emergency Management Agency, conveyed four Boko Haram militants by a chopper to Banki, a border town in Bama local government area of Borno State.
  4. The 21 released girls were picked up and taken to Maiduguri Air Force base at about 8.30 am.
    chibok girls
  5. 18 of the girls have reportedly had babies.
  6. They were immediately flown to Abuja at 9 am.

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