Nigeria welcomes its Chibok sisters
Abuja, May 7: Eighty-two of the more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria in 2014 arrived in Abuja on Sunday to meet President Muhammadu Buhari after a prisoner swap deal secured their release.
Presidency spokesman Femi Adesina said the schoolgirls from Chibok, in Borno state, were met at the capital’s airport by Buhari’s chief of staff Abba Kyari and taken to a medical facility for checks. “Welcome our girls, welcome our sisters, we are glad to have you back,” Kyari told them, describing it as “a very joyous moment”.
Military and civilian militia sources in the town of Banki, on the border with Cameroon, said the girls had left for Borno state capital Maiduguri on board six military helicopters at 6.10 am (0510 GMT).
“One of the girls was carrying a baby with her, a boy of less than two years,” said the source on condition of anonymity.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which said it “facilitated the safe return” of the girls as a “neutral intermediary”, tweeted photographs of girls boarding a military helicopter. A meeting with Buhari, who was swept to power in 2015 on a promise to defeat Boko Haram, had been scheduled for 4.00 pm local time ( 1500 GMT), officials in Abuja said.
The presidency announced late on Saturday that months of talks with the jihadists had “yielded results” some six months after 21 other Chibok girls were freed with the help of international mediators. “Today, 82 more Chibok girls were released,” a statement said.