A Federal Government delegation comprising Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Interior, Lt. Gen Abdulrahman Danbazzau and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Khadijat Bukar Ibrahim, are on their way to Dapchi, Yobe State to meet with the freed schoolgirls.
They will arrive Maiduguri first before going to the Yobe town, said Segun Adeyemi, special adviser to Minister of Information.
The ministers had attended a Federal Executive Council meeting, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, before they left for Maiduguri.
Before their departure, Mohammed told media men, that the number of the Dapchi schoolgirls who were released on Wednesday has increased from 76 to 101, with the documentation of more of the freed girls by the security agencies.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday, the Minister said the number could still increase, as the documentation of the freed girls is ongoing.
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He said the release of the schoolgirls is the outcome of the directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to all security agencies to do everything possible to secure the release of the 110 Dapchi schoolgirls, who were abducted 19 Feb. 2018.
The Minister 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.
