‘Only 10 schoolboys in captivity’ – Garba Shehu disagrees with Governor Masari over number  

Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari, has disagreed with Katsina State Governor, Bello Masari, over the number of boys abducted from Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State.

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 schoolchildren 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.”