The Presidency has claimed that only 10 students were kidnapped in Katsina school contrary to the figures released by the Katsina Government.
Jomog News Nigeria reports that, contrary to Kastina State Governor Bello Masari’s claims that 333 school boys were abducted from their hostels at Government Science Secondary School(GSSS), Kankara, Katsina State, on Friday, the presidency has denied the report and said only 10 student were abducted.
The Government of Katsina had stated on Sunday that they were still on the search for 333 students from the attack.
“Based on the available record we have, we are still searching for 333 students through either the forest or their parents to ascertain the actual number that has been kidnapped,” Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina said.
“We are still counting because more are coming out from the forest and we are calling through the numbers those parents that have phone numbers to find out whether or not their children have gone back home.
“We as a government we are yet to be contacted by any group or person responsible for the kidnap of the students,” he added.
But President Mohammadu Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, has denied this report in a BBC Hausa bulletin.
The bulletin reads, “The Government of Nigeria has said its security forces have surrounded the location where gunmen have kept schoolchildren abducted from a secondary school in Katsina State.
“Spokesman for the President, Mallam Garba Shehu, told the BBC only 10 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.”
The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), who is currently in Daura, Katsina State, on vacation, had come under fire on social media for failing to visit the school where the boys were abducted.
Buhari instead sent a delegation from Abuja to visit the school and sympathise with their parents.
