Katsina State Governor, Bello Masari and Senior Special Assistant to the
President, Garba Shehu, have disagreed on the actual number of boys
abducted from Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State by suspected bandits.
Masari, on Sunday, while briefing a Federal Government delegation led
by Minister of Defence, Maj Gen Bashir Magashi (retd.), said, “The
children so far kidnapped cut across the state because of the boarding
school houses all children from all parts of the state and some even
from outside the state.
“It has a population of 839, and so far, we are yet to account for 333
students. We are still counting because more are coming out from the
forest and we are calling those parents that have phone numbers to find out whether or not their children have gone back home.”
However, BBC Hausa Service, in a bulletin on Sunday, quoted Shehu as
saying only ten boys are with the bandits.
The BBC Hausa bulletin read, “The Government of Nigeria has said its
security forces have surrounded the location where gunmen have kept
school children abducted from a secondary school in Katsina State.
“Spokesman for the President, Mallam Garba Shehu told the BBC only ten children were remaining in the hands of the gunmen according to their colleagues who escaped from the gunmen.
The number is below figures released by school authorities at the beginning.
Garba Shehu said the school children who escaped said 10 of
their friends were still with their abductors.”
