Tears of joy and relief freely flowed at the presidential villa Abuja when Vice President Yemi Osinbajo received the 21 released Chibok girls.

The Vice President also noted that contrary to media reports that most of the girls had babies, only one of them has a baby.

He added that the negotiation for the release of the remainder of the girls is ongoing, expressing optimism that all of them will be released soon.

He said: “We must be sensitive to the fact that the government wants these girls back and alive. Again, we must balance this 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.

“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.”

Osinbajo said that the released girls were in good health condition but will remain in a medical facility so that experts would ascertain that they are perfectly alright.

“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 a medical facility,” he said.

“They will be staying there for some time until we are satisfied about their health. Their parents will be coming to join them, hopefully by tomorrow (today).

“There will be therapy, there will be counselling. 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.”