According to sources, the only Christian among the 110 students of Government Girls
Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe state, is still being held
while five of her colleagues died in captivity.
From the details of the girls
released by federal government shortly after their abduction, Liya
Sharibu is the victim being held.
The source said the insurgents returned the students in the vehicles which they used in conveying them on February 19 when they were kidnapped.
The
arrival of the insurgents sparked tension in the town. Many residents were said to have fled when they sighted the convoy.
“Boko Haram just returned the kidnapped girls this morning.
They brought them back in the same set of vehicles which they used in
conveying them last month,” a resident said.
“People are scared because they do not know what the insurgents are up to.”
It
is not clear if the government paid any ransom to the sect for the
release but President Muhammadu Buhari had said he was open to
negotiation.
He said this when Rex Tillerson, outgoing US
secretary of state, visited Nigeria earlier in the month and when he
visited the town to sympathise with families of the schoolgirls.
Details of the release are still sketchy. Garba Shehu, spokesman of the president, told CNN that the girls were being transported to safety and more details would be released later.
The father of one of the abducted girls, Sheribu Nata, has disclosed
that his daughter, Leah Sheribu was not released by Boko Haram
terrorists because she refused to abandon her Christian faith for Islam.
Nata, in an interview on RayPowers’ political platform programme,
said he had spoken to about six parents who are already with their
daughters, stressing that he is happy that his daughter did not denounce
the faith. He disclosed that the girls were dropped in Dapchi town just
before 9am on Wednesday morning.
His words, “Right now, I’m not in Dapchi. I’m in my duty post. I
called the parents who are in Dapchi. I was informed that my daughter
was not released. All of them have been released but they said some were
dead there, but my daughter is alive. They said she was a Christian
that’s why they could not release her. They said she cannot be released
until she becomes a Muslim. And my daughter said she would never be a
Muslim.
“I spoke with about five to six of them whose daughters have been
released. They are presently with their daughters in Dapchi. They were
dropped by the Boko Haram people in Dapchi town this morning. I am happy
because my daughter did not denounce her faith. They refused to release
her because she refused to convert to Islam.”