Sources: Five dead, only Christian held as Dapchi schoolgirls regain freedom

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, a source told TheCable on Wednesday morning.

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 nine vehicles which they used in conveying them on February 19 when they were kidnapped.

The arrival of the insurgents sparked tension in the town. TheCable gathered that many residents fled when they sighted the convoy of the group.

“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 had earlier told TheCable.

“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.

Earlier, Jude Chukwu, spokesman of the army, promised to get back to TheCable on the release of the girls.