104 Dapchi girls, two others released – FG

 

• FG handled abduction, release of school girls poorly – Charlyboy’s group

 

The Federal Government said a total of 106 abducted persons, comprising 104 Dapchi schoolgirls, one other girl and a boy were freed by insurgents in the early hours of Wednesday.

Briefing journalists in Maiduguri, the Minister of Info and Culture, Alhaji 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.

The freed were formally handed over to the Federal Government.

The Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj.-Gen. 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 HMIC; the Minister of Interior, Gen. Abdulrahman Danbazau (retired); the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Hajia Khadija Bukar Abba Ibrahim and Hon. Goni Lawan Bukar, a member of House of Representatives from Dapchi.

The girls were immediately airlifted to Abuja aboard a military transport plane.

In a related development, the group of good governance advocates led by Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly boy, Wednesday night, expressed dissatisfaction with the way in which the federal government handled the abduction and release of the Dapchi school girls in Dapchi, Yobe state.

The advocates said it was unacceptable that the government would fail to bring perpetrators of the crime to book.

They also said it was absurd that the Boko Haram insurgents who abducted the girls were granted unopposed access and even hailed as heroes within Dapchi.

In a statement jointly signed by Raphael Adebayo, Deji Adeyanju, Ariyo Dare Atoye, Bako Abdul Usman, and Moses Paul, the group said: “We wish to express our heartfelt delight over the return of the schoolgirls kidnapped in Government Girls Secondary School, Dapchi, Yobe state about four weeks ago.

“We wish to state, however, that we are totally dissatisfied with the way and manner in which the Federal Government, the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police Force, and other security agencies in the country handled the kidnapping that happened in Dapchi. It is disheartening that while nobody has been held responsible for the unfortunate incident, the Federal Government has continued to treat the Boko Haram sect with kid gloves.

“It is unacceptable that despite the fact that about five girls were killed among the 110 kidnapped from Dapchi, the Federal Government and the security agencies have shown zero sense of keenness in ensuring that the terrorists who perpetrated this act are brought to book. Instead, the Boko Haram insurgents were granted unopposed access to parade themselves as heroes within Dapchi.

The pronounced laxity with which the authorities allowed Boko Haram free access to abduct and return the girls within Dapchi unchallenged suggests a precarious complicity of the Federal Government and the security agencies in the protraction of the bane called Boko Haram in Nigeria.

“The OurMumuDonDo Movement wishes to emphasize that the Nigerian people desire a lot better than a government that is complacent with terror while millions of innocent citizens suffer from the wrath of untamed barbarians.

“In conclusion, therefore, it is imperative that the Federal Government and the security agencies sincerely, dutifully, and frontally engage and wipe-out the extremely harmful flames of Boko Haram in Nigeria.” It said.