Nigeria's Boko Haram returns all abducted Dapchi girls, 5 dead (local media)

Nigeria

Local media portals in Nigeria have reported that insurgent group Boko Haram on Wednesday morning returned all the recently abducted school girls in the town of Dapchi in Nigeria’s Yobe State.

FLASH: Boko Haram has reportedly returned all kidnapped #DapchiGirls girls back to Dapchi township in Yobe, unfortunately, five of them a dead.

— Sahara Reporters (@SaharaReporters) March 21, 2018

One hundred and ten schoolgirls were abducted by the group in February this year in an attack similar to what occurred in 2014 in neighbouring Borno State.

Unfortunately, of the returnees, five girls were confirmed dead. Their release comes barely a week after President Muhammadu Buhari visited the school. He met with the parents and promised that everything was going to be done to secure the immediate release of their children.

“Boko Haram militants did not come with a single gun, they exchanged pleasantries with community leaders and left after dropping the girls off,” the U.S.-based Sahara Reporters added.

Last week, Nigeria’s Defence Minister was quoted as saying the girls will be rescued by the military between this and next week. The most recent issue on the abduction was around an Amnesty International (AI) report released on March 20, which suggested that the army had ignored warning signs. “No lessons appear to have been learned from the terrible events at Chibok four years ago,” Amnesty Nigeria said.

#Dapchigirls: Evidence available to Amnesty International suggests that there are insufficient troops deployed in the area, and that an absence of patrols and the failure to respond to warnings and engage with Boko Haram contributed to this tragedy. #Nigeria pic.twitter.com/qjxRB8vi6C

— Amnesty Int. Nigeria (@AmnestyNigeria) March 20, 2018

The army in response to the claims said in a statement: “it is pertinent to state that most of their narratives are outright falsehood and a calculated attempt to whip up sentiments and mislead unsuspecting Nigerians, demoralise friendly nations and people collaborating with security forces to end the forces of evil in the North-East.

“For the avoidance of doubts, no security force was informed of Dapchi school girls abduction as alleged by AI. The Nigerian public and the International Community should know that the Armed Forces of Nigeria is a professional military and has attained the highest form of professionalism in line with international best practices. And so, could not have ignored warnings of Boko Haram attack only to work tirelessly to get the girls back.”