Government Officials: Nigeria Reached Deal With Boko Haram, Schoolgirls To Be Released

Sources close to the Nigerian government confirmed that a ceasefire deal between Boko Haram and the government had been reached late last week, and both groups were in negotiation talks to have the girls released back to their families.

"We have agreed on the release of the Chibok schoolgirls, and we expect to conclude on that at our next meeting with the group's representative next week in Chad," Hassan Tukur, principal secretary to Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan, told CNN.

Another government spokesperson, Mike Omeri, told the Associated Press that the government is "inching closer to the release of the Chibok girls."

However, relatives of the kidnapped girls are remaining skeptical of the government's arrangements to free the girls. The Nigerian government has been criticized for not doing enough to free the 200 girls, who were kidnapped back in May from their school in Chibok.

"Things are still sketchy with lots of holes and varying statements," Allen Manasseh, a relative to one of the kidnapped girls, told the Associated Press.

The girls, many of whom were Christian, were reportedly kidnapped from a boarding school and forced to convert to Islam. Videos released of the girls since their kidnapping show them wearing traditional burqas and reciting verses from the Quran.