*ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE ON THE RELEASE OF THE DAPCHI GIRLS*
Beegeeagles blog (@beegeeaglesblog) says,

The Liberation Of The #DapchiGirls:Apparently It Was Not Money But A Convergence Between A Blue Moon & An Exceptional Stroke Of Good Fortune Which Nicked It. Incredible But True

Tonight, I was on the phone for one hour plus with sources who were effectively at the very, very firstline of those who swung this for Nigeria

My lead narrator is someone who is known to be averse to transactional releases. That, his credibility & his known sense of balance made me lend a listening ear

When all of this first happened, we told you first that it had to be Al-Barnawi's faction who had the girls, judging from the location of Dapchi. Some of these things are discernible to those who really keep an eye on the ball.They took the girls - no buts or ifs.ISWAP kept them

I have to be cagey cos this is not "public info" per se but you can read between the lines. To be sure,we had the benefit of solidarity from a foreign NGO whom I did not speak to but my contacts affirm their role

Now since those girls got taken and while efforts were underway to free them, grand-scale contention arose in the camp of the abductors. Recall that ab initio, this camp were supposed to be the ones not keen on negatively impacting civilians, be it attacks or abductions.

While the FG mulled over how to pull this off,not even they could have envisaged the fortuitous turn of events which played out this week. Reason why even they sounded surprised at the release of the girls. The back channel contacts were in the lead & giving feedback to the FG

As you may have noticed, the Yobe State Govt appear not to have even caught sight of the girls in passing before they jetted out to Abuja. The back channels were not their own draft was why & also things happened a bit too dramatically for anyone to tarry

So there arose a rift in the camp of the abductors with the ascendant wing of naysayers being opposed to the abductions. The abductors effectively found themselves on the backfoot and outnumbered

While contacts were being made,the naysayers mustered a majority sufficient enough to unilaterally impose their will on the collective. They reminded their mates that they changed leadership to move away from such antics which set them apart from the Shekau-led BH

It was the opinion of the naysayers, I was told impeccably, that since they were averse to preying on civilians, be that bombings or abductions for ransom, there was no question of negotiating any ransoms

Bolstered by their absolute dominance & certain that they were more than bolstered to defeat any internal reprisals, they unilaterally took the decision to free the girls

That was why even the FG did not quite seem to believe that we got this lucky and had to press for their expedited movement from Dapchi to MDGR, from where they were flown to Abuja. In a manner of speaking, it was too good to be true

There are developments which are unfolding at this moment which I'm constrained to keep close to chest. Suffice to say however that there MAY be many more surprise developments coming out of the camp of ISWAP. Bookmark this tweet

End of conversation

Replying to @beegeaglesblog

1. Is it true some of the girls are dead?
2. Was any one of them held back for not renouncing her Christian faith as widely reported?

Yes, some of the girls were lost in a stampede which I did not ask to be defined but it may have been a reference to the day when they were abducted

As for the Christian girl, I asked and was told that if they were meant to be released, did it matter if she converted anyway? She was somehow left behind, just like at least 3 non-DapchiGirls also made it out with the group.

The controversial Christian girl should be out in a bit..we keep our fingers crossed

https://twitter.com/beegeaglesblog/status/976934833439076353