Dapchi School Girls: FG Paid €5 Million, Swapped Boko Haram Fighters To Secure Release

*Dapchi School Girls Now 101 – Lai Mohammed

Against the Federal Government’s  claims  that the abducted Dapchi school girls were released unconditionally, reports say that a handsome ransom of five million euros was paid to Boko Haram to secure the release of Dapchi girls freed by the insurgents early Wednesday morning.

It was also said that the government swapped some Boko Haram fighters in order to get the Dapchi school girls released, according to Sahara Reporters.

It is however not yet clear how the deal was perfected before the release of the abducted school girls.

President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier hinted that the girls would be released either through negotiation or rescue.

But the Federal Government said the number of Dapchi schoolgirls released on Wednesday has increased from 76 to 101, following the documentation of more of the freed girls by security agencies.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who gave the update in a statement issued in Abuja, said that the number could still increase as the documentation of the freed girls was ongoing.

Mohammed had in an earlier statement confirmed the release of 76 of the 110 abducted students of Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe on Feb. 19.

The minister said that the release of the schoolgirls was the outcome of the directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to all security agencies to do everything possible to secure the release of the schoolgirls

He said the girls were released around 3 a.m. through back-channel efforts and with the help of some friends of the country, and that it was unconditional.

”For the release to work, the government had a clear understanding that violence and confrontation would not be the way out as it could endanger the lives of the girls, hence a non-violent approach was the preferred option.

”Within the period when the girls were being brought back, operational pause was observed in certain areas to ensure free passage and also that lives were not lost,” he said.

NAN reports that the minister in accompany of that of State for Foreign Affairs, Hajia Khadija Bukar-Ibrahim were on their way to Maiduguri to meet with the freed girls.