Nigeria Chibok girls: Eighty-two freed by Boko Haram

Islamist militants of the Boko Haram group have 
released 82 schoolgirls from a group of 276 they abducted
 in north-eastern Nigeria three years ago, the president's office says.

They were handed over in exchange for Boko Haram 
suspects after negotiations.

The girls will be received by President Muhammadu 
Buhari in Abuja on Sunday, a statement said.

The abduction of the so-called "Chibok girls" triggered a 
global outcry and sparked a huge social media campaign.

Before the latest release, about 195 of the girls were still missing.

The number of Boko Haram suspects released by 
authorities remains undisclosed.

The 82 schoolgirls are now in the custody of the Nigerian army and were brought by road convoy from a remote area
 to a military base in Banki near the border with Cameroon, reports the ERICGOSSIP from Lagos.

Our reporter says that many families in Chibok will be 
rejoicing at this latest news, but more than 100 of the girls taken have yet to be returned.

Christian pastor Enoch Mark, whose two daughters
 were among those kidnapped, told Agence France-Presse:

"This is good news to us. We have been waiting for this day. We hope the remaining girls will soon be released." It was unclear whether his daughters had been freed.

A statement from a spokesman for President Buhari said 
he was deeply grateful to "security agencies, the military, the Government of Switzerland, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and local and international NGOs" for playing 
a role in the operation.

Information about the release began trickling out on 
Saturday afternoon.

A soldier contacted the ERICGOSSIP to say that more than 80 
Chibok girls were being held in an army base near the Cameroon border.

At the same time an official working for an 
international agency, who assisted with the release, said
 that several armoured vehicles left Maiduguri - the city at 
the centre of the Boko Haram insurgency - in a convoy to travel into the "forest" to meet the girls.

He said there were two blindfolded men in the convoy.

The president's office said that the girls were released 
in exchange for some Boko Haram suspects held by the authorities- but we haven't been told how many.

After the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, 
Borno state, was raided in April 2014, more than 50 girls quickly escaped and Boko Haram then freed another 21 last October, after negotiations with the Red Cross.

The campaign for the return of the girls drew the support of then US First Lady Michelle Obama and many Hollywood stars.

Last month, President Buhari said the government
 remained "in constant touch through negotiations, through local intelligence to secure the release of the remaining girls and other abducted persons unharmed".

Many of the Chibok girls were Christian, but were 
encouraged to convert to Islam and to marry their 
kidnappers during their time in captivity.

Boko Haram has kidnapped thousands of other people
 during its eight-year insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic caliphate in north-eastern Nigeria.

More than 30,000 others have been killed, the government says, and hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee from their homes.

Boko Haram at a glance:

Founded in 2002, initially focused on opposing Western-style
education - Boko Haram means "Western education is
forbidden" in the Hausa language

Launched military operations in 2009

Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria,
 caliphate
abducted, including hundreds of schoolgirls

Seized large area in north-east Nigeria, where it declared a
caliphate

Joined so-called Islamic State, now calls itself IS's "West
African province"

Regional force has now retaken most of the captured territory

Group split in August after rival leaders emerged