ANXIOUS WAIT FOR PARENTS OF THE FREED CHIBOK GIRLS

Parents of the missing Chibok girls are slowly learning if their daughters are among the 82 freed by Boko Haram militants in Nigeria two days ago.

The girls’ names were put on Twitter by the president’s office on Sunday. They were flown to the capital Abuja.

But in Chibok, their home region in north-eastern Nigeria, not everyone has access to the social media site.

It is unclear if the government has made other attempts to let them know if their daughters are now safe.

On Monday, people were checking the newspapers to see who was on the list and decide whether to make the journey to Abuja, according to the Associated Press news agency.

Even parents in Abuja – where the 82 girls were flown in order to meet President Muhammadu Buhari before he left the country for medical treatment – were waiting to see if they would be reunited with their daughters.

Esther Yakubu told the BBC the last three years had been a “horrible nightmare” but that even the possibility of her daughter having been rescued was giving her hope.

It is being reported that the girls were handed over on Saturday in exchange for five Boko Haram suspects after negotiations – a deal which has been criticised by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by Senator Ahmed Makarfi.

In a statement, the PDP faction said the exchange had allowed terrorists to escape punishment and would embolden them to carry out further kidnappings, while the “piecemeal” release of the girls meant they still held bargaining chips.

But according to lawyer Zannah Mustapha, who has acted as a mediator between the Nigerian government and the extremists, some of the girls rejected the opportunity to return home. Exactly what their motivations are remains unclear, but there is speculation they may have been radicalised, or are too ashamed to return.

 ENDS/BBC

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