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Plane taking freed Nigerian schoolgirls to capital Abuja

The captors said they released the girls “out of pity”, while Nigerian authorities denied that a ransom had been paid.

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“They said people should make space for people to recognise their children and I got my child”, Mr Maina said.

Five girls are said to have died in the initial stages of the kidnapping, while one girl is still being held, with Buhari on Friday promising to free her.

But for Ali Gashomu, the kidnap of his daughter just hours after she was enrolled at the school for the first time had left him “traumatised and terrified” and undecided about whether she should return. She did not provide other details and it was not immediately possible to independently verify her claim. After all, if their children were still missing almost four years later, despite the global #bringbackourgirls campaign, what.

It is not immediately clear how numerous girls have been freed.

Information Minister Lai Mohammed, speaking in Maiduguri, said 105 people had been rescued so far, two of whom were not students. “No money changed hands”, he told reporters in the capital, Abuja.

Security operatives were not available as the terrorists reportedly drove into Dapchi town were residents celebrated the return of their children and praised President Muhammadu Buhari.

“We must ensure we give students a sense of security in their study environments such that when they are leaving their homes, they will be confident that they are under tight security”.

But SERAP said the government should not sweep away the “mass atrocities committed against millions of Nigerian women, men, children and the elderly, and allowing those responsible to escape justice”.

Parents, relations and well-wishers hit the town as the girls roll out of the luxury buses that brought them back from the airport on Sunday.

“We did it out of pity”. In the local Hausa language, Boko Haram roughly translates to “Western education is a sin”.

Nigeria says 101 of the 110 girls are confirmed freed, and it indicates that the number will rise “after the remaining ones have been documented”.

Boko Haram split when Islamic State named Abu Musab al-Barnawi as the group’s leader in August 2016. The military has called the report an “outright falsehood”.

Wednesday’s miraculous development also brought renewed focus to the 100 Chibok girls still missing since April 2014.

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She said, “I mounted pressure, I keep on begging them. This press release should be taken as the true position of the IGP’s statement”.

Boko Haram frees abducted Dapchi schoolgirls