The girls were handed over on Saturday in exchange for Boko Haram suspects after negotiations. They were from a group of 276 abducted in north-eastern Nigeria in 2014. Before the latest release, about 195 of the girls were still missing. The number of Boko Haram suspects released by authorities remains undisclosed.

Some of Chibok schoolgirls smallerABUJA, NIGERIA (ANS – May 7, 2017) — The 82 Chibok schoolgirls released by Boko Haram Islamist militants are to meet Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.

According to the BBC, they were escorted to the reception in the capital Abuja by armed soldiers, after a check-up at a medical centre.

The girls were handed over on Saturday in exchange for Boko Haram suspects after negotiations.

They were from a group of 276 abducted in north-eastern Nigeria in 2014. Before the latest release, about 195 of the girls were still missing.

Injured Chibok schoolgirlThe number of Boko Haram suspects released by authorities remains undisclosed.

In Abuja, President Buhari’s chief of staff Abba Kyari said: “Welcome our girls. Welcome our sisters. We’re happy to have you back.

“We’re very glad that you are back. That every Nigerian today must be forgetting every other hardship they’re suffering, because it is a very joyous moment. Welcome, welcome, welcome.”

The BBC reported that some of the girls looked tired and confused by all the attention after spending three years in captivity.

Before arriving in Abuja, they were brought by road convoy from a remote area to a military base in Banki near the border with Cameroon.

A BBC reporter says that many families in Chibok will be rejoicing at this latest news, but more than 100 of the girls taken have yet to be returned.

“This is good news to us. We have been waiting for this day,” Christian pastor Enoch Mark, whose two daughters were among those kidnapped, told Agence France-Presse.

Tired Chibok schoolgirl“We hope the remaining girls will soon be released.” It was unclear whether his daughters had been freed.”

A statement from a spokesman for President Buhari earlier said he was deeply grateful to “security agencies, the military, the Government of Switzerland, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and local and international NGOs” for playing a role in the operation.

In a later BBC interview, presidential spokesman Garba Shehu added: “With all of these things together we negotiated over a period of several months, and at the end of it some of their (Boko Haram’s) members were exchanged for the 82 girls.”

The BBC’s Stephanie Hegarty, reporting from Lagos, said, “Information about the release began trickling out on Saturday afternoon. A soldier contacted the BBC to say that more than 80 Chibok girls were being held in an army base near the Cameroon border.

“At the same time an official working for an international agency, who assisted with the release, said that several armored vehicles left Maiduguri – the city at the centre of the Boko Haram insurgency – in a convoy to travel into the ‘forest’ to meet the girls.

“He said there were two blindfolded men in the convoy.

Chibok girls after their kidnapping“The president’s office said that the girls were released in exchange for some Boko Haram suspects held by the authorities – but we haven’t been told how many.”

After the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno state, was raided in April 2014, more than 50 girls quickly escaped and Boko Haram then freed another 21 last October, after negotiations with the Red Cross.

The campaign for the return of the girls drew the support of then US First Lady Michelle Obama and many Hollywood stars.

Last month, President Buhari said the government remained “in constant touch through negotiations, through local intelligence to secure the release of the remaining girls and other abducted persons unharmed.”

Many of the Chibok girls were Christian, but were encouraged to convert to Islam and to marry their kidnappers during their time in captivity.

Boko Haram has kidnapped thousands of other people during its eight-year insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic caliphate in north-eastern Nigeria.

“More than 30,000 others have been killed, the government says, and hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee from their homes, added the BBC.

Photo captions: 1) The released Chibok girls received an official welcome in Abuja. 2) The released girls later arrived at a medical centre in Abuja for a check-up. 3) Some were visibly tired after their ordeal 4) Some of the girls pictured in May 2014, shortly after their kidnapping. 5) Michelle Obama with her sign. 6) Baby Dan Wooding with his mother, Anne Wooding, shortly after his birth in December, 1940, at Vom Christian Hospital in Nigeria.

About the writer: Dan Wooding, 76, is an award-winning author, broadcaster and journalist who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, and is now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 54 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. Besides running the ASSIST News Service, Dan has written some 45 books and hosts a weekly radio show and two TV programs in Southern California.

** You may republish this and any of our ANS stories with attribution to the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net).

Boko Haram releases 82 Chibok school girls

Nigeria (MNN) — Weekend events brought renewed hope to the parents of the Chibok girls who were kidnapped in April 2014. Yesterday, parents anxiously awaited to see if their daughters were among the latest group of girls released by the militant group, Boko Haram. Kristin Wright of Open Doors USA says they are cautiously celebrating as they wait for their teams on the ground to verify reports.

She says, “The initial news is that 82 of Nigeria’s kidnapped Chibok girls have been freed by Boko Haram in exchange for militants that the government then released back to that militant group.”

This group of girls were part of the nearly 300 girls kidnapped three years ago. Their release follows that of 24 more girls last year.

chibok parents_trauma counseling 2

(Photo courtesy of Open Doors International via
World Watch Monitor)

Wright visited with families in the Chibok community in 2015. Open Doors USA has been supporting these families with encouragement and advocacy for their cause. Wright says it’s more than the school girls who have had a brush with the terrorist organization.

“I also met with many, many girls and women who had faced a similar experience of being kidnapped and held in captivity by Boko Haram,” she says.

Boko Haram continues to be active in this part of the world. Amnesty International has recorded 41 mass kidnappings like the Chibok case since early 2014.

Wright says, “The problem is much larger than a lot of people realize, and for all of these girls, they’re facing typically rape, forced marriage to a Boko Haram militant, abuse of all kinds, [and] beatings.”

(Representative photo courtesy of Open Doors USA)

She continues, “In addition to this, many captives reported that they had experienced being forced to convert.”

The release of these girls is no doubt exciting news, something to celebrate. However, there is much to be addressed.

“These girls have a long road of healing ahead of them. And so, I think that it’s really crucial to be remembering them, remembering their families, and remembering them in our prayers right now,” Wright says.

Addressing a big problem

Boko Haram clearly has little regard for the value of human life. But, they also receive very little attention on the global stage. It seems that with less attention, there is also less resistance to their activity. However, this group rivals and even once surpassed ISIS as the deadliest terrorist organization.

Wright says, “And yet, in spite of the mass number of deaths, in spite of the mass number of captives, people still don’t hear that much about Boko Haram.”

Nigeria, she points out, is number 12 on the Open Doors World Watch List, which ranks the top countries where it’s hardest to live as a Christian.

“In Nigeria, it continues to be a volatile situation for believers, and I think that a part of the responsibility and role for Christians to play is to raise awareness and raise understanding of the situation facing their brothers and sisters in Nigeria.”

To this end, Open Doors has recently started a campaign to raise support for these believers.

The spiritual battle in Nigeria

The physical destruction this group leaves behind is obvious. But the stories of forced conversions are a reminder. We cannot ignore the spiritual battle that is also taking place in Nigeria.

(Representative image courtesy of Open Doors USA)

Wright says it was hard to avoid that aspect when she was visiting the families and talking to the women and girls who had been kidnapped in the past.

“There is definitely a spiritual battle at work, and you can see evidence of that. I was really encouraged and inspired attending church services in Nigeria because of the pure joy and commitment of the Christians that I met who, in spite of serious persecution, continue to have gratitude in their hearts, continue to praise God and to meet together.”

With this in mind, we can be praying. First, Wright says, pray for peace for the families waiting to be reunited with their daughters. Pray also for those girls who are still in captivity, and the thousands more who have been abducted by Boko Haram.

If you’d like to join Open Doors campaign to raise support for Nigerian Christians, click here. 

Additionally, Open Doors has started a petition to President Trump, asking him to appoint an Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom in the State Department. To sign that petition, click here.

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