The federal government said a total of 106 abducted
persons, comprising 104 Daphi schoolgirls, one other girl and a boy were freed
by insurgents in the early hours of Wednesday.
Briefing journalists in Maiduguri, the Minister
of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said all the 106 persons were freed
unconditionally, contrary to reports in a section of the media that ransom was
paid and that some insurgents were swapped for the freed persons.
”It is not true that we paid ransom for the
release of the Dapchi girls, neither was there a prisoner swap to secure their
release.
”What happened was that the abduction itself
was a breach of the ceasefire talks between the insurgents and the government,
hence it became a moral burden on the abductors. Any report that we paid ransom
or engaged in prisoner swap is false,” he said.
Meanwhile, the freed persons have been formally
handed over to the federal government.
The Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole,
Rogers Nicholas, handed over the girls and one boy to the four-member federal
government delegation at the Nigerian Air Force base in Maiduguri on Wednesday
evening.
The delegation comprised the Minister of
Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed; the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman
Danbazau (retired); the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Khadija Ibrahim
and Goni Bukar, a member of House of Representatives from Dapchi.
The girls were immediately airlifted to Abuja
aboard a military transport plane.
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