Chibok: A GROUP of 21 Chibok schoolgirls freed by Boko Haram militants in October after two-and-a-half years in captivity in northeastern Nigeria were celebrating a "miracle" yesterday as the girls prepared to return to their families for Christmas.
The girls were released after Switzerland and International Red Cross brokered a deal with the Islamist fighters and have been held in a secret location in Abuja for assessment and debriefing by Nigerian government.
But the freed girls are being taken back to Chibok in Borno state to spend Christmas and New Year with their families, going home for the first time since being seized from their school, several of their relatives said.
One of the girls, Asabe Goni, described her release as a "miracle" and, in the first interview by one of the 21 girls to international media, said she was happy to be going home.
The girls were expected to return to Abuja in the New Year to continue a "restoration process", according to government sources.
They will be joined in Chibok by two other girls abducted from the school in April 2014 who were rescued earlier this year.
