President Buhari Meets Recently Released Chibok Girls After Swap With Boko Haram {Photos}
President Buhari Meets Recently Released Chibok Girls After Swap With Boko Haram {Photos}
President Muhammadu Buhari has met with 82 young women who were freed on Saturday after being kidnapped by Boko Haram over three years ago.
In the largest negotiated release between the parties so far, Nigeria's government traded several imprisoned members of the group for the young women.
They were some of the 276 schoolgirls whose mass abduction in 2014 made headlines around the world.
"I cannot express in a few words how happy I am to welcome our dear girls back to freedom," Buhari told the girls in his residence on Sunday, according to a statement.
"On behalf of all Nigerians, I will like to share my joy with you,"
The president also promised to "spare no effort" in securing the release of all remaining Boko Haram kidnap victims.
Presidential adviser Femi Adesina told reporters that Buhari promised to do all that was needed to reintegrate the freed girls back into society.
In a separate statement, Buhari's government thanked Switzerland and the International Committee of the Red Cross for helping secure the release of the 82 women after "lengthy negotiations.
" The government did not, however, reveal how many Boko Haram prisoners it had traded for the young women.
Boko Haram's abduction of 276 girls from a school in Chibok on April 14, 2014, captured international attention. Celebrities such as Michelle Obama, then the first lady of the United States, joined the #BringBackOurGirls hashtag campaign to free them.
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