“The president expressed his deep gratitude to security agencies, the military, the government of Switzerland, the Red Cross, local and international NGOs for the success of the operation.”

A government source told Xinhua on Saturday that at least 82 out of the more than 200 Chibok girls that were kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014 in Nigeria’s restive northeastern Borno State had been released. President Muhammadu Buhari will receive the girls on Sunday afternoon in the capital Abuja, it said, without saying how many Boko Haram suspects had been exchanged or disclosing other details. A military source said the girls were brought on Sunday morning from Banki near the Cameroon border to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state where the insurgency started. “President (Muhammadu) Buhari is pleased to announce that negotiations to release more of the Chibok girls have borne fruit with the release of 82 more girls today (Saturday) after months of patient negotiations.
Nigerian officials report, as a result of negotiations, Boko Haram has released an estimated 82 schoolgirls who were among about 220 kidnapped from a secondary school in Chibok in Borno State in April 2014.