5 aid workers freed in rescue operation – DSS

The Department of State Services has said the agency rescued five aid workers abducted by Boko Haram since 22 December 2019.

In an interview with the Chinese news agency, Xinhua, Dr Peter Afunanya, spokesman of the secret police, said the rescue operation was carried out in collaboration with other critical stakeholders in military and intelligence services.

Afunanya said the aid workers are in good health.

The United Nations humanitarian coordinator also confirmed the release on Thursday.

The people were kidnapped by militants posing as soldiers who stopped a convoy of commercial vehicles travelling from Monguno towards the city of Maiduguri, the state capital of the northeastern state of Borno.

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The workers, two females and three males, were kidnapped on December 22 after a gang of gunmen believed to be Boko Haram terrorists ambushed their vehicle between Monguno and Damaturu.

The rescued aid workers include Jennifer Samuel Ukambong of the Alliance for International Medical Action, ALIMA; Asabe Cletus Musa also of ALIMA; Adamu Auwal, Arthur Ibojekwe China of Solidarity International; and George Danbaba Michael of International Organisation for Migration, IOM.

The abduction of Jennifer Samuel Ukambong, an orphan, who is from Bokkos LGA of Plateau State was brought to public attention the man representing her constituency in the House of Representatives, Solomon Maren.

“This happened on the day she was marking the 1st remembrance of her father’s demise”, said Maren.

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