*To receive newly released schoolgirls Sunday
*Thanks Nigerian military, Switzerland, Red Cross, Local/Int’l NGos over success
“After months of patient negotiations, our security agencies have taken back these abducted girls in exchange for some Boko Haram suspects held by the authorities. The girls are due tomorrow (Sunday) in Abuja to be received by the President.”
In furtherance to the fulfillment of his campaign promises, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Alhaji Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government made yet another breakthrough in the fresh release this time 82 numbers in the effort to retrieve the remaining schoolgirls abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, during the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)’s administration of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
It said the new release was fruit of patient negotiations it did with the Boko Haram group.
President Muhammadu Buhari, it would be recalled, had cautioned those who tried to push his government into hasty decisions over the search and release efforts while the #BringBackOurGirls criticisms were considered generally to be getting beyond hands. He called for patience saying there would be no rest until the girls, those that were retrievable among them, were retrieved even as he told the parents, “Your children are also my children. So, I feel your pains.”
The Presidency Saturday night said that the release of the 82 girls was result of the government’s patient negotiations with the Boko Haram insurgent group.
It said the Chibok girls released Saturday were due in Abuja on Sunday to be received by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said this in a statement late last night.
He stated: “The President is pleased to announce that negotiations to release more of the Chibok Girls have borne fruit with the release of 82 more Girls today (Saturday).
“After months of patient negotiations, our security agencies have taken back these abducted girls in exchange for some Boko Haram suspects held by the authorities.
“The girls are due tomorrow (Sunday) in Abuja to be received by the President.
“The President expressed his deep gratitude to security agencies, the military, the government of Switzerland, the Red Cross, local and international NGOs for the success of this operation.
“It may be recalled that when the first batch of 21 girls were released in October last year, the President directed the security agencies to continue in earnest until all the Chibok Girls have been released and reunited with their families.
