The release of 82 Chibok Girls held by Boko Haram was the culmination of months of negotiation and horse-trading.
“As you know, within the limits of what can be disclosed, there is a lot of negotiations that are going on and we continue to negotiate with those individuals who are holding the Chibok Girls,” Vice President Yemi Osinbajo told Pulse, one night in April of 2017.
He added that, “we have gone quite far with negotiations for hopefully another batch of the girls”.
At the time, Osinbajo had also disclosed that his office and that of the President's, receive daily intelligence briefings on progress to secure the release of the remaining girls.
276 schoolgirls were abducted from their unlit dormitory, one eerie night in April of 2014 by Boko Haram insurgents.
They were then corralled into the back of a creaky truck and driven to the heart of the Sambisa forest—until recently, the stronghold of the insurgents.
A few of the girls commandeered their escape from the back of the truck on the night.
playOsinbajo meets with some of the Chibok Girls (pulse)
Last October, the federal government secured the release of the first batch of 21.
Before then, two of the girls were found wandering in the forest by local vigilante.
They were cradling babies of Boko Haram members.
With the release of the 82 on Saturday night, 113 of the girls now remain unaccounted for.
The latest release was the result of a swap deal.
The swap followed intense negotiations with the captors and plenty of horse-trading, facilitated by intermediaries.
"There were times when talks broke down, as you'd expect in these situations", a military source told Pulse.
In the end, two Boko Haram commanders were handed to the terrorist sect in exchange for the girls in a town called Banki in Borno State.
playBuhari holds the baby of one of the rescued girls (Saharareporters)
The Swiss government, Red Cross, local and international NGOs and the military high command in Nigeria, were all involved in the negotiations.
In a statement made available to Pulse, President Muhammadu Buhari said he “is pleased to announce that negotiations to release more of the Chibok Girls have borne fruit with the release of 82 more girls today 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”.
A statement from the Presidency added that “the girls are due tomorrow 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 the operation.
“It may be recalled that when the first batch of 21 girls were released in October 2016, the President directed the security agencies to continue in earnest until all the Chibok girls have been released and reunited with their families.
“The President has been receiving full reports from the Director-General of the Department of State Services at each stage of the operation.”
playBuhari and Osinbajo with the batch of 21 (Presidency)
Pulse has learned that the girls will first be flown to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, from Banki.
“The girls are now lodged in the military barracks and will be flown to Maiduguri tomorrow (Sunday),” a military source told the News Agency of Nigeria.
At the time of filing this, six military helicopters have been dispatched to Banki to fetch the girls to an air force base in Maiduguri.
From Maiduguri, the girls will be flown to Aso Rock for a meeting with President Buhari.
Presidency sources have told Pulse that after the meeting with the President, the girls will be taken to a new location from where they will be debriefed, made to undergo psychological and medical tests before being reunited with their families.
The Bring Back Our Girls advocacy group led by former Nigerian minister, Obiageli Ezekwesili, has sustained the demand for the release of all the Chibok schoolgirls, since 2014.
As news of the release of the batch of 82 swept through the internet on Saturday, Ezekwesili said she was over the moon.
playLai Mohammed briefs leaders of BBOG group (Twitter)
“It is 3.41am here, but my eyes cannot find sleep because my heart is animated in expectation and joy. Hope maketh not ashamed”, Ezekwesili said in a twitter post.
She added that; “it is real, it is a fact. Another set of our Chibok girls are back, folks. We rejoice and praise God with their parents”.
In his reaction, Senate President Bukola Saraki said “All praises and thanks be to the Almighty on the release of 82 more of our Chibok schoolgirls! Our prayers are being answered...
“I commend the determination of President Muhammadu Buhari, our security forces and international partners on the release of the 82 Chibok girls.
“As a father, I can’t help but feel delighted and excited at the release of the 82 Chibok schoolgirls. However, our work is not yet done.
playSenate President Saraki and Speaker Dogara (The GuardianNG News )
“The work to Bring Back Our Girls must continue because too many families are still anxious today. Too many of our daughters have not returned”.
Boko Haram commenced a bloody insurgency against the Nigerian State in 2009.
Since that time, the sect which says it intends to carve out an Islamic State from the north of Nigeria, has killed more than 20,000 civilians and soldiers, displacing more than 2.6 million from their homes and mounting soft target operations by strapping bombs to the bodies of children—most of them pre-teen girls.
President Buhari promised to crush the insurgency during his 2015 electioneering campaign and has attained relative success, even though Boko Haram continues to hit soft targets every other day.
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Update: The Chibok Girls have arrived Abuja for a meeting with the President.
The President's Spokesperson, Femi Adesina, said: "82 Chibok girls now in Abuja. Received on behalf of the President at the airport by Chief of Staff, Alhaji Abba Kyari. Congrats Nigeria".
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