The 82 Nigerian schoolgirls recently released after more than three years in Boko Haram captivity were finally reunited with their families on Saturday in a public display of emotion.

Images from the scene showed brightly dressed families rushing through the crowd to hug the girls. One small group sank to their knees, with a woman raising her hands to the heavens as if in church. A beaming father picked his daughter up and swung her around in the air. Some danced. Others wept tears of joy.

Chibok schoolgirls are reunited with their families: in pictures Read more

“I am really happy today, I am Christmas and new year, I am very happy and I thank God,” said Godiya Joshua, whose daughter Esther was among those freed.

“I’m feeling very happy, I was dancing with her, she’s very happy,” said Yakubu Nkeki, on seeing his niece Maimuna, who he raised as his own child. “Everyone was dancing today, even the old ones, everyone was dancing. All of us had lost hope, we thought the girls would not be returned.”

The families were reunited in the capital, Abuja, where the girls were taken by Nigerian authorities after their release two weeks ago. The reunited families will attend a church service on Sunday and the parents will return home early in the week leaving the girls in the capital in the care of the government to receive therapy and training.

It was the largest release of hostages since 276 schoolgirls were abducted from their boarding school in Chibok, north-east Nigeria, in 2014 when the militants arrived while they were sleeping in their dormitories. Five commanders from the extremist group were exchanged for the girls’ freedom, and Nigeria’s government has said it would make further exchanges to bring the 113 remaining schoolgirls home. The public nature of the reunion was clearly arranged by the government to share its success with the nation.

“We have trust in this government, definitely they will rescue the rest safely and bring them back to us alive,” said Nkeki.

“Our joy is never complete until we see the complete 113, because one Chibok girl matters to all Chibok people,” said Yahi Bwata, a parent of one of the freed schoolgirls. Many of the girls, most of them Christians, were forced to marry extremists and have had children. Some have been radicalised and have refused to return. It is feared that some have been used in suicide bombings. Some parents admitted they were anxious about the effect the ordeal has had on the girls.

The mass abduction in April 2014 brought international attention to Boko Haram’s deadly insurgency in northern Nigeria, and it launched a social media-driven #BringBackOurGirls campaign that got the backing of celebrities and global figures, including then US first lady Michelle Obama. Thousands of people have been kidnapped during the extremists’ eight-year insurgency, and more than 20,000 have been killed.

Joy as 82 Chibok schoolgirls hug and kiss their families again Read more

In the confusion immediately after the kidnapping, 57 girls managed to escape, but the rest were driven far into the Sambisa forest. For more than three years they were moved from forest to city and to caves around north-east Nigeria. According to one source, there was plenty of food to begin with, but as government forces advanced and put pressure on Boko Haram, sometimes the girls went hungry.

The release of the 82 schoolgirls two weeks ago came after an initial group of 21 girls was released in October. Nigeria’s government has acknowledged negotiating with Boko Haram for their release, with the Swiss government and the International Committee of the Red Cross helping as mediators.

Once the deal was done the girls travelled in the dark to reach the rendezvous point and waited on the edge of a forest near the Cameroon border to be picked up and taken away in four armoured vehicles. They were dressed in dark, floor-length hijabs. After a night at an army base, the girls were taken by military helicopter to the nearby city of Maiduguri, before flying on to Abuja.

Since the latest release, many families in the remote community had been waiting for word on whether their daughters were among those freed. A government list of names circulated, and parents were asked to confirm the girls’ identities through photographs.

Both groups of freed girls have been in government care in the capital as part of a nine-month reintegration programme that President Muhammadu Buhari has said he will oversee personally. But human rights groups have criticised the government for keeping the young women for so long in the capital, far from their homes more than 550 miles away. </s> ABUJA, Nigeria - The 82 Nigerian schoolgirls recently released after more than three years in Boko Haram captivity reunited with their families Saturday as anxious parents looked for signs of how deeply the extremists had changed their daughters’ lives.

Brightly dressed families rushed through the crowd in the capital, Abuja, and embraced. One small group sank to their knees, with a woman raising her hands as if praising in church. Some danced. Others were in tears.

“I am really happy today, I am Christmas and new year, I am very happy and I thank God,” said mother Godiya Joshua, whose daughter Esther was among those freed.

This month’s release was the largest liberation of hostages since 276 Chibok schoolgirls were abducted from their boarding school in 2014. Five commanders from the extremist group were exchanged for the girls’ freedom, and Nigeria’s government has said it would make further exchanges to bring the 113 remaining schoolgirls home.

“Our joy is never complete until we see the complete 113, because one Chibok girl matters to all Chibok people,” said a parent of one of the freed schoolgirls, Yahi Bwata.

Many of the girls, most of them Christians, were forced to marry extremists and have had children. Some have been radicalized and have refused to return. It is feared that some have been used in suicide bombings.

The mass abduction in April 2014 brought international attention to Boko Haram’s deadly insurgency in northern Nigeria, and it launched a global Bring Back Our Girls campaign that drew the backing of some celebrities, including former U.S. first lady Michelle Obama. Thousands have been kidnapped during the extremists’ eight-year insurgency, and more than 20,000 have been killed.

The release of the 82 schoolgirls this month came after an initial group of 21 girls was released in October. Nigeria’s government has acknowledged negotiating with Boko Haram for their release, with mediation help from the Swiss government and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The two groups of freed schoolgirls reunited earlier Saturday, Nigeria’s Channels TV reported, showing the young women laughing and embracing.

Since the latest release, many families in the remote Chibok community had been waiting for word on whether their daughters were among them. A government list of names circulated, and parents were asked to confirm the freed girls’ identities through photos.

Both groups of freed girls have been in government care in the capital as part of a nine-month reintegration program that President Muhammadu Buhari has said he will oversee personally. But human rights groups have criticized the government for keeping the young women so long in the capital, far from their homes. </s> Says many of them elect to be psychotherapists

Two weeks after they regained freedom from Boko Haram, the 82 Chibok schoolgirls yesterday reunited with their families in Abuja.

Although journalists were not invited to the reunion, THISDAY gathered that it was held at the Department of State Service (DSS) Clinic in Abuja.

A statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary, Federal Ministry of Information, Mr. Joe Mutah, described the reunion as “emotion-laden’.

The statement said the 82 girls were first reunited with 24 other girls, who were rescued by the Federal Government last year.

Some of the photographs from the reunion showed sobbing parents hugging their daughters whom they had not seen since they were abducted from their dormitories in April 2014.

One of the photos showed some of the rescued 82 girls in joyful mood when they reunited with the 24 others rescued last year.

According to the statement, Minister of Women Affairs, Jummai Alhassan, represented by the Director Planning, Research and Statistics in the ministry, Mrs. Abidemi Aremo, said a group of experts had been put together to address the girls’ psycho-social support and medical needs.

“The children are being rehabilitated and we believe that in due course they will be properly aligned with their families.

“Intensive medical attention is being administered and as soon as they are done, they will be enrolled into a remedial programme,” the statement quoted the minister.

Alhasan disclosed that the 24 others who were rescued last year were currently undergoing psycho-social counseling and remedial programme preparatory to their enrollment in school next academic session.

“For the 21 and three girls that were earlier released, I wish to inform us that their psycho-social counseling is still in progress and of course they have started remedial classes. They are being taught five subjects, which is designed with a view to getting them back to school come the next school session, which is in September this year. They will be settled in various schools and I am sure they will continue their education from there,” she said.

She stated that the federal government had intensified efforts to rescue the remaining girls in captivity.

The statement quoted the chairman of the parents of the abducted school girls, Yakubu Nkeki, as saying their joy had no bounds and thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for wiping away their tears.

Nkeki said he had high hopes that very soon the remaining girls still in captivity would be rescued.

Also yesterday, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) gave more insights into the rehabilitation process which the rescued girls are currently undergoing.

The Deputy Representative of the UNFPA, Mr. Eugene Kongnyuy, in an interview with some select journalists on the efforts of the agency to rehabilitate the girls, said the Federal Government would formally handover the released 82 Chibok Girls after concluding the ongoing medical assessment on them.

Kongnyuy said that the 82 girls were currently under the care of the Ministry of Women Affairs and when all the necessary assessment were concluded, they would be officially handed over to the agency in addition to the 24 of them they are currently catering for.

“I had a bilateral meeting with the Minister of Women Affairs, that was last week (May 8) and they were still undergoing medical assessment at that point in time. We in UNFPA have not been able to see them because they said the girls were undergoing medical assessment because they had similar medical cases as with the previous 24. We are hopeful that once the assessment is done, the necessary training is given, then, they will go to where they are supposed to live and that they will take similar nine-month rehabilitation programme as the previous 24 girls, ” he said.

He said that when the girls eventually come under their custody, they would be provided with physical, medical as well as psychological rehabilitation.

Kongyuy assured that UNFPA would help the girls reintegrate successfully into the society and highlighted some of the efforts currently put in place to achieve that, including education and vocational training.

He also disclosed that the rehabilitation process was necessary because several of the girls suffered trauma due to three years of physical, emotional and psychological abuse by their captors.

He said: “As you are aware, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) support is for the 24 Chibok girls that were released, 21 plus three, and now 82 girls have also been released. And, they are under the safekeeping of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs. UNFPA received a request from the Ministry on certain specific areas that UNFPA has comparative advantage. These include physical rehabilitation, medical rehabilitation, psychosocial rehabilitation as well as livelihood support.

“Basically, the physical rehabilitation is to provide the girls with their personal effects needs, which include culturally appropriate dressing and other clothing materials. In terms of medical support, some of the girls had series of medical treatment where they went through medical screening and diagnosis, and they were all treated. In terms of psychosocial support, they had serious psychosocial trauma, as such they all needed counseling. They have lost basically their childhood, missed three years of adolescenthood and gone through violence: sexual, physical and emotional. And, they needed psychosocial rehabilitation.”

“In terms of nutrition, many of them were malnourished; they needed some balanced diet to get them back to normalcy. They also needed a shelter where they can stay and be looked after. Government is providing that. And, UNFPA also provided livelihood support through the government.”

The UN official noted that “the girls were asked question whether they wanted to go back to school, formal education, or they wanted to follow a vocational training track. They divided themselves into two groups. Those that decided to pursue formal education, teachers were recruited to actually fast-track their preparation for JAMB because they were kidnapped, as they were about to write their JAMB, so that they can proceed to university”.

“Those that wanted vocation training, many of them chose to be trained as psychotherapists, some of them are undertaking ICT training. So, these are the different forms of trainings they are offered so that they can prepare for their future in establishing small businesses or get job when they get themselves integrated back into their communities.”

Speaking further, Kongnyuy disclosed that most of the earlier released 24 girls had been reportedly allowed to see their family from time to time.

“We have been able to see the 24 girls, and we had access when we request through the minister . According to the discussion we had with the minister, the girls have frequent interactions with their families.

“Their families do visit them where they are, and they do go back to their homes in Chibok from time to time, depending on when they choose to. They do have frequent interaction with their parents, and with their spouses for those who were married before they were kidnapped,” he explained.

Altogether, 106 Chibok schoolgirls have been rescued through the prisoner-swap deals brokered on behalf of the federal government by the government of Switzerland and the International Red Cross.

The girls were abducted in April 2014, from their dormitories at Government Secondary School by Boko Haram that waged war of terror on the North-east of Nigeria in a bid to establish an Islamic caliphate in the region. </s> Parents of the 82 Chibok schoolgirls who were released after being held for more than three years by Boko Haram have arrived in Abuja to reunite with their children.

The minister for women, Aisha Alhassan, had on May 11 promised that the students’ parents will travel from the remote northeastern town in Borno state to meet their daughters in the capital, Abuja.

It was joy unlimited for the parents who set theirs eyes on their daughters for the first time in over three years,

Watch Video Of Their Arrival Below; </s> ABUJA/MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Boko Haram militants have released 82 schoolgirls out of a group of more than 200 whom they kidnapped from the northeastern town of Chibok three years ago in exchange for prisoners, the presidency said on Saturday.

A group of 82 Chibok girls, who were held captive for three years by Islamist militants, wait to be released in exchange for several militant commanders, near Kumshe, Nigeria May 6, 2017. REUTERS/Zanah Mustapha

Around 270 girls were kidnapped in April 2014 by the Islamist militant group, which has killed 15,000 people and displaced more than two million during a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic caliphate in northeastern Nigeria.

Dozens escaped in the initial melee, but more than 200 remained missing for more than two years.

Nigeria thanked Switzerland and the International Committee of the Red Cross for helping secure the release of the 82 girls after “lengthy negotiations”, the presidency said in a statement.

President Muhammadu Buhari will receive the girls on Sunday afternoon in the capital Abuja, it said, without saying how many Boko Haram suspects had been exchanged or disclosing other details.

A military source said the girls were brought on Sunday morning from Banki near the Cameroon border to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state where the insurgency started.

The release of the girls may give a boost to Buhari who has hardly appeared in public since returning from Britain in March for treatment of an unspecified illness.

He made crushing the insurgency a pillar of his election campaign in 2015.

The army has retaken most of the territory initially lost to the militants but attacks and suicide bombings by the group have made it nearly impossible for displaced persons to return to their recaptured hometowns.

“The President directed the security agencies to continue in earnest until all the Chibok girls have been released and reunited with their families,” the presidency said.

INSECURITY

More than 20 girls were released last October in a deal brokered by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Others have escaped or been rescued, but 195 were believed to be still in captivity.

Buhari said last month that the government was in talks to secure the release of the remaining captives.

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.

Although the army has retaken much of the territory initially lost to Boko Haram, large parts of the northeast, particularly in Borno state, remain under threat from the militants. Suicide bombings and gun attacks have increased in the region since the end of the rainy season late last year.

Some 4.7 million people in northeast Nigeria depend on food aid, some of which is blocked by militant attacks, some held up by a lack of funding and some, diplomats say, stolen before it can reach those in need.

Slideshow (4 Images)

Millions of Nigerians may soon be in peril if the situation deteriorates, as authorities expect, when the five-month rainy season begins in May and makes farming impossible in areas that are now accessible.

This part of Nigeria is the western edge of an arc of hunger stretching across the breadth of Africa through South Sudan, Somalia and into Yemen on the Arabian peninsula. The United Nations believes as many as 20 million people are in danger in what could become the world’s worst famine for decades. </s> Open this photo in gallery Some of the newly released Dapchi schoolgirls are pictured in Jumbam village, Yobe State, Nigeria, on March 21, 2018. STRINGER/Reuters

Boko Haram Islamic extremists brought back nearly all of the 110 girls they had kidnapped from a boarding school last month, dropping them off in the middle of the night Wednesday with a warning: “Don’t ever put your daughters in school again.”

Several of the girls interviewed by The Associated Press said they had been travelling for days before the convoy of vehicles arrived in the centre of the town of Dapchi around 2 a.m. Residents who had fled upon hearing that Boko Haram was headed their way watched from hiding as dozens of girls descended from the vehicles apparently unharmed.

“We were freed because we are Muslim girls and they didn’t want us to suffer. That is why they released us,” said Khadija Grema, one of the freed girls who said a Christian classmate remained captive.

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The extraordinary development brought elation to most of the families, but more heartache for the relatives of the six girls still unaccounted for. The sister of one girl fainted Wednesday upon hearing that she was not among those freed.

One 14-year-old released by the fighters told reporters that five girls had died. She did not provide other details and it was not immediately possible to independently verify her claim.

The abductions in Dapchi have evoked painful memories of the tragedy in Chibok, where 276 girls were kidnapped from their boarding school. Nearly four years later, about 100 of them have never returned home. Many had been forced to marry their captors and had children fathered by them.

The Nigerian government denied that it had paid a ransom or made a prisoner swap in exchange for the girls’ freedom. The girls were released “through back-channel efforts and with the help of some friends of the country, and it was unconditional,” Information Minister Lai Mohammed told journalists in the capital, Abuja.

Islamist militants release most of the 110 girls aged 11-19 kidnapped on February 19 from the town of Dapchi. Reuters

“No money changed hands. They only had one condition — that they will return them to where they took them. So in the early hours of today, they did return the girls and most of them went to their parents,” he said.

The girls were meeting with counsellors at a nearby hospital, and “will be quarantined and be counselled before they go back to their schools,” he added. Nigeria’s government later said they were being taken to the capital on a military plane.

The fighters had rolled into Dapchi in nine vehicles and the girls were left in the centre of town. As terrified residents emerged from their homes, the extremists issued an ominous warning, resident Ba’ana Musa told the AP.

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“We did it out of pity. And don’t ever put your daughters in school again,” the residents said the extremists told them. Boko Haram means “Western education is forbidden” in the Hausa language.

Nigeria’s government said 104 of the 110 schoolgirls had been confirmed freed.

The latest mass abduction is thought to have been carried out by a Boko Haram splinter group aligned with the Islamic State group that has criticized the leader of the main Boko Haram organization for targeting civilians and has focused instead on military and Western targets.

The release came a day after an Amnesty International report accused the Nigerian military of failing to heed several warnings of an imminent attack on Feb. 19 during which the girls were seized. The military has called the report an “outright falsehood.”

Wednesday’s miraculous development also brought renewed focus to the 100 Chibok girls still missing since April 2014. Coincidentally, some of the Chibok families had already made plans to travel to Dapchi that day to lend their moral support before it was known that most of the girls had been released.

Some of the Chibok families instead joined in rejoicing with the Dapchi parents, said Lawan Zannah, secretary of the Chibok parents’ association.

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“This development gives us light that ... we can take a message to our other colleagues at home that yes, what we have seen will give us hope that our own (girls) too will be released,” Zannah said. </s> MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Boko Haram extremists returned almost all of the 110 girls abducted from their Nigeria boarding school a month ago with an ominous warning, witnesses said Wednesday.

The fighters rolled into Dapchi around 2 a.m. in nine vehicles and the girls were left in the centre of town. As terrified residents emerged from their homes, the extremists said "this is a warning to you all," resident Ba'ana Musa told The Associated Press.

"We did it out of pity. And don't ever put your daughters in school again," the extremists said. Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language.

Nigeria's government said 101 of the 110 schoolgirls, most of them Muslim, had been confirmed freed and that the number "would be updated after the remaining ones have been documented."

"No ransoms were paid," the information minister, Lai Mohammed, said in a statement. The girls were released "through back-channel efforts and with the help of some friends of the country, and it was unconditional."

Family members were en route to the town Wednesday morning.

"When I get there we will do a head count to see if all of them have been released," said Bashir Manzo, whose 16-year-old daughter was among those kidnapped during the Feb. 19 attack.

Manzo confirmed that his daughter was among those freed.

"As I speak to you there is jubilation in Dapchi," he said.

The mass abduction and the government response brought back painful memories of the 2014 attack on a boarding school in Chibok. Boko Haram militants abducted 276 girls, and about 100 of them have never returned. Some girls were forced to marry their captors, and many had children fathered by the militants. </s> Photos: Olatunji Obasa Parents of the Eighty-two Chibok schoolgirls who were released after being held for more than three years by Boko Haram have arrived in Abuja to reunite with their children. The minister for women, Aisha Alhassan, had on May 11 promised that the students’ parents will travel from the remote northeastern town in […] Read Full Story </s> More than 80 Chibok schoolgirls released by Boko Haram arrive in Abuja

Boko Haram militants in Nigeria released dozens of abducted Chibok schoolgirls this week. The girls arrived in the capital of Abuja and are expected to be received by the president.

A government official said five Boko Haram commanders were freed to secure the release of the schoolgirls.

The released schoolgirls arrived at the Abuja airport and were driven away in a military convoy. They were found near the border town of Banki in Borno state, near Cameroon’s territory.

A Nigerian official said they secured the release of these 82 girls in exchange for Boko Haram prisoners. Switzerland and the International Committee of the Red Cross helped secure their release after lengthy negotiations with the militant group.

The girls were welcomed by the Nigerian president’s chief of staff.

Around 276 girls were kidnapped in April 2014 by the militant group. Around 57 managed to escape, but more than 200 had remained missing for more than two years.
82 of the female students recently released by Boko Haram reunite with their families in Abuja.