Buhari assures Dapchi schoolgirls of security

“We look forward to engaging with your government on the steps it is taking to take forward the above proposed recommendations to ensure that justice for the victims of Boko Haram is not forsaken for amnesty and impunity for perpetrators”. “She likes school very much and she likes church activities very much”. “Let the government try their best to bring her for me”.

“She was looking for her small sisters at that time. And that’s why they did not release her”, the father said.

Five were said to have died while little Miss Sharibu was said to have been held back because she rebuffed attempt to be converted to Islam. “That was how we accepted the destiny”, he said.

“They said that three girls fell (out of the trucks) and into the river on their way to (the) Sambisa (forest hideout of Boko Haram)”.

Buhari’s government has repeatedly claimed victory over Boko Haram in recent months but the extremists continue to carry out deadly suicide bombings in the north, often using young women who have been abducted and indoctrinated. “If Leah comes (back), she will go back to school”.

National police chief Ibrahim Idris told reporters Saturday in Maiduguri, capital of neighbouring Borno State, the girl “may be released today”.

“Aisha pleaded with me to send her two brothers to bid her farewell”.

When NPR met Sharibu in Dapchi earlier this month, she proudly described her daughter as a good student who liked to learn and liked school.

Malam Mohammed Adamu Doro is another father of another girl that died.

“I have come here to commiserate with you over loss of lives and properties”.

Reports have indicated that the insurgents held on to Sharibu because she refused to renounce her faith and embrace Islam.

“They need the support of their families and communities to feel safe and return to school”.

“She is everything to me. We should give priority to security” he said.

The EU called on the Federal Government to ensure that urgent measures are taken to avoid repeated abductions and violence. In a place where Boko Haram still wields enormous influence – despite the claim of its having been “technically defeated” – it is hard to explain why an all-girls school, with more than 900 students, was allowed to operate without an adequate security presence. “I took to her cooked food and chin-chin (snack)”.

President Muhammadu Buhari has assured that Leah Sharibu, the remaining Dapchi schoolgirl still with Boko Haram will be rescued.

The girls were released at about 3 AM on Wednesday “through back-channel efforts and with the help of some friends of the country”, said Nigeria’s information minister.

The 2019 Oyo governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said, “It is curious to note that the abductors of the girls returned them the same way they were taken away with no security network to check the movement”.

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

The Nigerian government denies that it paid a ransom or made a prisoner swap in exchange for the Dapchi girls’ freedom. For those whose children are released, it is all smiles.