Boko Haram members who escorted the released Dapchi schoolgirls back home have spent 20 minutes in the beleaguered town preaching for them to turn to the righteous path.

Witnesses said the insurgents stormed the town early Wednesday morning fully armed but harmed nobody.

“The were confident and unfazed. As they ordered the girls to alight from the vehicles, they gathered them in one place and hold the brief preaching session.

“They asked them to return to the path of Allah and stop pursuit of Western Education.

“They told them that they released them because they wanted to give them another chance of returning to Allah,” an international rescue worker who preferred anonymity told DAILY NIGERIAN.

The Federal Government has confirmed the release of 76 of the 110 abducted students in the early hours of Wednesday.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said the 76 of the students were released in the early hours of Wednesday.

According to him, the 76 freed student are those who have been documented so far, adding that the release of the remaining abducted students is ongoing.

He said the girls were released around 3 a.m. through back-channel efforts and with the help of some friends of the country, and that it was unconditional.

”For the release to work, the government had a clear understanding that violence and confrontation would not be the way out as it could endanger the lives of the girls, hence a non-violent approach was the preferred option.

”Within the period when the girls were being brought back, operational pause was observed in certain areas to ensure free passage and also that lives were not lost,” Mr Mohammed said.