Osinbajo: girls in good condition
Read Time:5 Minute, 2 Second
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday insisted that no Boko Haram member in government’s custody was exchanged for the 21 Chibok girls released by the insurgents.
He spoke to reporters after visiting the girls at the medical facility of the Department of State Services (DSS) in Abuja, where they are undergoing check-up.
He was accompanied to the briefing by Minister of Information Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Al-Hassan, Minister of state for Budget and National Planning Zainab Ahmed and the Director-General of DSS, Mallam Lawal Daura.
He said the girls were in good health condition, even though they still needed therapy and counseling.
The parents of the girls are expected to join them today at the medical facility where the girls will remain until the doctors are fully satisfied to discharge them.
He said: “We should congratulate ourselves and thank the almighty God for the release and subsequent returning home of 21 of the Chibok girls who were taken more than two years ago.
“It is an exciting news for the whole country. Everyone is really excited and I believe that we should be very thankful to God.
“I also want to thank the military and all the security services, DSS, Intelligence services across the county as well as our friends and partners, internationally who have also helped in bringing happy ending of captivity of at least 21 of the Chibok girls.
“About an hour ago, I met with the 21 Chibok girls who have been brought back and they are in good health considering the circumstances they have been held in and they are now being well taken care of in the medical facility.
“There will be therapy, there will be counseling. Of course, we can imagine what they have gone through. So we expect that a lot of psychological therapy and so much need to be done to get them back.” He said
On whether Boko Haram members were exchanged for the girls, he said: “There was no exchange of any kind. There was no swap of any kind. Even when we started negotiations, we said we would consider all options available to us. Absolutely, there was no exchange of any kind.
Asked further if there will be swap with the terrorists in the future, he stressed that the government wants the girls back and alive and must balance that desire against the security and safety of the country.
“But what has happened and the process we have begun is one which has not involved any type of swap of Boko haram commanders or any militant in any way. That is a very good turn of event.
“We believe that in the next few days and months, we will be bringing in more of these girls using exactly the same kind of negotiation and the same template that we used.” He added.
He said the Red Cross was not involved in the negotiation but only helped in taking the girls back.
The government, he said, had worked with the Swiss government.
“The Swiss government worked with us in the process of negotiation but the Red Cross is not involved in the negotiation but in taking the girls back, of course, we worked with the Red Cross because we were unable to take our own medical team.
“The Red Cross was not involved at all in the process of negotiation. It was the Swiss government, our own officials: the DSS, intelligence and the military that were involved.
He said “one of the 21 girls has a baby”.
“We are also going to see to it that everything that you require going forward, perhaps your education, those who need to go back to school, those who need to find employment, we are going to make sure that we make all the provisions for you,” he added.
Osinbajo prayed to God to “replenish, resuscitate and revitalise them’’ and also give them good health and make them more successful and happier in life than they were ever before.
He also prayed that those still held in captivity would be returned to the nation unhurt.
Hajia Alhassan translated the vice president’s speech to the girls, and assured them that the medical centre would take good care of them.
The Director Medical Services of the Centre, Dr. Ann Okoroafor, said the girls were brought into the centre at about 1.00 p.m.
Okoroafor said the girls’ ages ranged from 18 years to 22 years and that the centre performed some medical examinations on all of them already.
“Some of them who were ill, we have already commenced treatment on them; but we are to still do a lot more because it is not just a flash in the pan thing.
“We want to do a lot more as we have support from other agencies’’.
Okoroafor said a consultant psychiatrist from the National Hospital had arrived to assist in the examination and treatment of the rescued girls.
“We want to take them through a process and ensure that during this initial period they come back into the society the way they should.
“We noticed a whole lot of difference from the time we received them and a few moments ago when some of them were laughing and joking with them; that gave them a lot of joy.
“It means that we have created the environment for them to know that people care about them and that is the most important thing we want to do now,’’ she added.
According to her beyond showing that Nigerians care about them medically, the society also cares about them to have the best of everything.
“We are happy to have them and so far so good,’’ the doctor noted.
The DSS boss, Daura,said “We are all grateful that God has made this possible and we are hopeful that this negotiation which brought about the rescue of the 21 girls will continue and hopefully the rest of the girls will be released very soon,’’ he said.
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