What Boko Haram told us after returning our daughters – #DapchiGirls’ parents

Parents of abducted Dapchi schoolgirls who were released on Wednesay by Boko Haram said the terrorists took their time to preach sermons to them before leaving the community.

They said no soldier or security operative was present in the community to confront the insurgents for the almost one hour they spent in the community.

Dapchi village burst into joyous mood as residents chorused Baba Oyoyo, Baba Oyoyo, in apparent appreciation of President Muhammadu Buhari, whom they felt engineered the negotiation of the girls as he promised them when he visited last week.

Premium Times earlier published an amateur video which showed the residents praising and praying for the Boko Haram members as they left the community.

“It was a thing of joy for us in Dapchi when suddenly we began to see trucks moving into the town at about 8:00 a.m in the morning”, said Ibrahim Husseini, a resident of Dapchi.

“They brought the girls and then they were telling the general public that they should not go back to Western education schools; that what they did was not terrorism but rather the propagation of Islamic knowledge,” said Mr. Husseini who said his sister was among the released girls.

Kachalla Bukar, who is the secretary of the abducted Dapchi schoolgirls’ parents’ group, said he received a phone call from relatives in Gumsa town that they saw Boko Haram gunmen coming towards Dapchi with the girls.

He said when he broke the news to the villagers, the people became scared and began to flee in fear.

Mr. Kachalla said he and other parents of the missing girls stood and watched as Boko Haram drove into the village in the same kind of vehicles that they used to take the girls away about 30 days ago.

He said he did not only wait to receive the girls, but also exchanged pleasantries with them and even took a selfie using the insurgents’ camera phones.

– Premium Times