How Boko Haram Came In Nine Vehicles And Dropped Kidnapped Dapchi Girls Outside Their School

How Boko Haram Came In Nine Vehicles And Dropped Kidnapped Dapchi Girls Outside Their School

Two parents of the abducted Dapchi girls have confirmed the return of their girls kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists.

According to AFP, Boko Haram Islamists who kidnapped more than 100 schoolgirls in Dapchi, northeast Nigeria, just over a month ago returned the students to the town on Wednesday.

Bashir Manzo, who heads a parents’ support group in Dapchi confirmed the return of the girls and said: “The girls have been brought back. They were brought in nine vehicles and dropped outside the school at about 8:00 am (0700 GMT).

“I have the list of the missing girls with me, so I am now heading to the school to take a roll call of the returned girls to determine if any of them is still missing.”

These girls were not accompanied by any security personnel. Their abductors brought them, dropped them outside the school and left, without talking to anyone.

“We will get to know more details from the girls about their predicament while in captivity.

“Alhaji Deri, whose daughter was among those kidnapped, supported Manzo’s account in a separate phone call,” adding: “We are here in the school with the girls.

A senior government source in Abuja confirmed the release but said officials were still trying to verify how many girls had been freed.

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari said last week said the government had “chosen negotiation” to secure the return of the Dapchi girls rather than use military force.

“We are trying to be careful.
It is better to get our daughters back alive,” he said.

Yan St-Pierre, a counter-terrorism specialist with the Modern Security Consulting Group in Berlin, said the Dapchi girls’ release was not without precedent.

Earlier this year, a number of hostages, including university lecturers, were freed. But he said the latest release was “casual enough to raise a lot of questions, especially about the payment.”

“If they did pay, the Nigerian government likely paid a premium to accelerate the release in order to avoid another Chibok,” he added.

Alamu Tosin

The writer is Alamu Tosin. I have three strong passions in life — football, blogging and movies — in that order. I love spending time with friends talking about the important things in life and hate nothing more than ‘authority’ and hypocrisy. My personal believe in life is that once an individual sets his/her mind to achieve something, it is totally possible. And oh!, I am a strong Lannister, because I always pay my debt. For writing or fixing gigs, contact tosinalamu@gmail.com.