Chibok girls return home for Christmas

CHIBOK: A group of 21 schoolgirls freed by Boko Haram militants in October after twoand-a-half years in captivity in north-eastern Nigeria were celebrating a “miracle” as they prepared to return to their families for Christmas.

The girls were released after Switzerland and the International Red Cross brokered a deal with the Islamist fighters and have been held in a secret location in the capital Abuja for assessment and debriefing by the Nigerian government.

But the freed girls are being taken back to Chibok in Borno state to spend Christmas and the new year with their families.

The kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from Chibok in April 2014 sparked global outrage and prompted global figures including US first lady Michelle Obama to support a campaign #BringBackOurGirls.

One of the girls, Asabe Goni, described her release as a “miracle” yesterday and, in the first interview by one of the 21 girls to international media, said she was happy to be going home. “I had given up hope of ever going home,” said Goni, 22.

Dancing and singing in her home in Chibok, Goni’s grandmother Ngobiko Mutar could not contain her joy as the family prepared for her arrival.

“I didn’t think I would ever see her again,” Mutar said, while Goni’s young relatives baked a cake to welcome her home.

Nigerian authorities are involved in negotiations aimed at securing the release of more of the girls, the president’s spokesman said on comments posted on Twitter.

The country’s army has driven Boko Haram back to its base in Sambisa forest – the militants’ vast north-eastern woodland stronghold – in recent months, but it still stages suicide bombings, often using young girls. – Reuters