The Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President Buhari, Garba Shehu, argues that only 10 schoolboys were abducted from Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina state.
Katsina state Governor, Aminu Masari, on Sunday, informed the Minister of Defence, Maj Gen Bashir Magashi (retd.), that 333 schoolboys were missing.
These claims have been dismissed by the SSA, Garba Shehu, who explains that security operatives have encircled the hideout where the armed men are holding the children.
Shehu went further to state that some of the abducted school children escaped from the hands of their abductors and informed authorities of that only 10 were still being held..
“The Government of Nigeria has said its security forces have surrounded the location where gunmen have kept school children abducted from the Secondary school in Katsina state,” a BBC Hausa Service bulletin stated.
These latest figures are lower that those announced by Governor Masari after the abduction happened.
It will be recalled that the Secondary School with a reported population of 839 was attacked by suspected bandits on Friday night.
The gunmen, after penetrating the school and abducting the schoolboys, were involved in a shootout with men of the Nigerian army before fleeing with their victims.
More updates to follow.