SAN FRANCISCO, February 26, (THEWILL) – President Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday, hosted the recently released three University of Maiduguri lecturers and the 10 women abducted by insurgents in the Northeast.
The President restated the government’s commitments in rescuing all those abducted by the insurgents especially the recent kidnap of over 100 secondary school girls from Dapchi.
He also instructed the National Youth Service Corps, (NYSC) to issue a certificate of completion to one of the women who was serving at the time of her abduction.
THEWILL recalls that the two groups were abducted by different terrorist organizations located in different places making negotiations tedious.
The 3 lecturers were part of the oil exploration team ambushed by Boko Haram on Tuesday, July 25, 2017 while the women were abducted during an attack on a police convoy.
The abductees have all been medically examined, treated, psychologically evaluated and are ready to be reunited with their families.
THEWILL also recalls that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in a statement announcing their freedom said that those freed were “10 women police officers and three university professors”.
“We are so pleased that these 13 people are free and will be able to see their families again,” the ICRC’s Deputy Regional Director for Africa, Patrick Youssef, said.
Although it facilitated the handover of the freed persons, the ICRC said it was not involved in the negotiations that led to their release.
“The armed opposition handed the 13 people over to ICRC representatives who transported them to Nigerian authorities,” it said.
“This action was similar to what the ICRC did in October 2016 and May 2017, when we transported the released ‘Chibok girls’ to Nigerian officials.”
