Nigeria paid Boko Haram ransom for kidnappings

THE Nigerian government paid Boko Haram militants a “huge” ransom of millions of dollars to free up to 230 children and staff the jihadists abducted from a Catholic school in November, intelligence sources said.

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FREED school children line up in Minna, the capital of Niger State in central-northern Nigeria, in December last year. | AFP

(AFP)

Two Boko Haram commanders were also freed as part of the deal, which goes against the country’s own law banning payments to kidnappers.

The money was flown on a helicopter to Boko Haram’s Gwoza stronghold in northeastern Borno state on the border with Cameroon and delivered to Ali Ngulde, a militant commander in the area, three sources said.

Due to the lack of communications cover in the remote area, Ngulde had to cross into Cameroon to confirm delivery of the ransom before the first group of 100 children were released.

The decision to pay the jihadists, who sparked worldwide protests after they kidnapped 276 mostly Christian girls in Chibok in 2014, is also likely to irritate the US and President Donald Trump, who has cast himself as a defender of the country’s Christians.

Nigerian government officials deny any ransom was paid to the armed gang that snatched close to 300 schoolchildren and staff from St Mary’s boarding school in Papiri in central Niger state on November 21.

At least SO later managed to escape their captors.