The Governor of Katsina state has been challenged by the presidency over the number of missing boys abducted by bandits.
President Muhammadu Buhari
The Presidency has countered the Katsina State Governor, Bello Masari on the number of boys abducted from Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State by bandits.
Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari, while speaking on the number of boys abducted, said only 10 were remaining in the custody of their kidnappers.
However, Masari, on Sunday, while briefing a Federal Government delegation led by Minister of Defence, Maj Gen Bashir Magashi (retd.), said the government is yet to account for 333 students.
He 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.”