There was a palpable excitement at the Council Chambers of Presidential Villa, venue of the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, when news filtered in that the Dapchi school girls were released by their abductors.
Ministers and others at the Council Chamber expressed excitement on the development.
President Muhammadu Buhari immediately dispatched a three-man team comprising Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed; Minister of Interior, Mr. Abdulrahman Dambazau; and the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mrs Khadijah Bukar Abba Ibrahim to Dapchi, Yobe state.
Speaking to State House correspondents, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mrs Khadijah Bukar Abba Ibrahim, said the development represents one of the happiest monuments for the country.
She said: “I’m very excited today. My name is Hon. Khadijah Bukar Abba Ibrahim, the minister representing Yobe State. I’m exhilarated, I’m happy. That is what I feel because the Dapchi girls have been released. We are very very happy. We have achieved what we had gone out to achieve and we thank the almighty God for His mercies.
Also speaking, Minister of Defence, Mr. Mansur Dan-Ali, who predicted that the girls would be released a week ago, said: “Basically, I want to speak on the impression that people had that we cannot get the girls released. If you can remember the last interview I had with Channels Television, I said in two weeks, two months or less we are going to get the girls released and this has happened. So, this is as result of the efforts of Mr. President and the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces for the support he has been giving to us and the output is showing now.”
On the negotiations that went in before the release, the minister said government negotiated from a strong point, stressing that “if you are not doing so from the point of strength then you cannot make it.”
The Minister of Culture and Information, Mr. Lai Mohammed, said release of the girls was a thing of joy for all Nigerians.
“The girls were released unconditionally, no money changed hands. The only had one condition, that they will return them to where they picked them. So in the early hours of today, they did return the girls and most of them went to their parents homes.
“As of now I can confirm that 91 girls and one boy have been released. The event is developing. Many of the girls that were released were not dropped in one place. Some where dropped on the road and they went back naturally to their parents Houses. They are now being asked to come and be documented at a center and as at five minutes ago, I was told 91 girls and boy had been documented,” he said.
Asked to speak to the allegation by one of the parents that his daughter was not released because she refused to renounce her faith, the said: “All we can tell you is what we have gotten from our sources on ground, as this things develop we will let you know.”
