No swap deal in release of 21 Chibok girls – Osinbajo
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says there was no swap deal of any kind in the release of 21 Chibok girls by the Boko Haram sect.
The Vice President spoke while briefing State House correspondents after visiting the freed Chibok girls at the medical centre of the Department of the Security Services (DSS), in Abuja.
He stressed that there was no exchange of detained members of the Boko Haram sect for the released girls.
Osinbajo briefed newsmen in company of Director-General of DSS, Lawal Daura; Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed and Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Zanaib Ahmed.
He, however, reinstated that the federal government was still ready to explore all options for the release of the remaining Chibok girls still held in captivity.
Osinbajo also disclosed that one of the released Chibok girls has a baby.
Said he, “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.
“They will be staying there for sometime until we are satisfied about their health condition. Their parents will be coming to join them hopefully by tomorrow (today).
“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 needs to be done to get them back”, he said.
The Vice President further said the “There was no exchange of any kind. There was no swap of any kind. Even when we started negotiations, we said we will consider all options available to us. Absolutely, there was no exchange of any kind.
“We must be sensitive to the fact that the government wants this girls back and alive, again, we must balance it against the security and safety of the country.
“In the process of negotiation, we will look at all options and we will weigh the options carefully and decide what to do. 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.
“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”
On whether the Red Cross was involved in the negotiation for the release of the Chibok girls, the Vice President said, “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 added.
