The twenty one Chibok school girls who were recently released from the captivity of the Boko Haram terrorists were on Sunday reunited with their families and loved ones.

The reunion took place at the health facility of the Department of State Services, DSS in Abuja, where a thanksgiving church service was organized for the girls.

The atmosphere at the thanksgiving venue was quite emotional as tears of joy and relief freely flowed.

The parents also took turns to commend President Muhammdu Buhari and the Nigerian Military as well as other security agencies for their various roles in seeing to the safe return of the girls.

One of the rescued girls, Gloria Dame, in her testimony revealed that they had had to go without food, at some point in the forest, for more than a month.

Dame who spoke in Hausa said: “I did not know that a day like this will come that we will be dancing and giving thanks to God among people.

“For one month and 10 days, we stayed without food. I narrowly escaped bomb blast in the forest.

“We are praying to God to touch the heart of Boko Haram to repent and we are calling on Nigerians to pray and fast for the release of our remaining ones in captivity,” she stated.

Chairman of Chibok local government council, Yaga Yarakawa, described the release of the girls as “historic”, adding that he knew the girls well before their abduction as he was in charge of their feeding which was sponsored by the Borno State Secondary Schools Feeding System.

“These are the real girls and you could see when their parents came; you see their joy, it manifest naturally,” he said.

“This is enough to tell you that it is a reality and anybody who says different things or is doubting, maybe the person has a different agenda altogether.”

He appealed to the government to put all necessary machinery in place to ensure the release of the other girls.

Also, Yakubu Nkeki, chairman of Abducted Chibok Girls’ Parents Association, thanked the president for the release of the girls.

She also said the claims that most of the girls were pregnant and some already had babies were not true.

“From the physical looks of the girls, it was obvious that they were not radicalised as claimed by some people,” he added.

Ministers of information and culture and that of Women Affairs, Lai Mohammed  and Aisha Alhassan, were also present at the thanksgiving service.