NATIONAL: 10, not 330 GSS Kankara schoolboys in captivity, says presidency

THE Presidency has faulted the claim by the Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari, that over 333 boys abducted from  Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, were missing as of Sunday.

Masari had told a federal government delegation from abuja comprising of security chiefs  on Sunday that the population of the students in the school is 839.

But reacting to the claim by the governor, Senior Special  Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, told the BBC Hausa Service that only 10 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 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.”

Gunmen, believed to be bandits, had attacked and abducted some students of Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State on Friday night.

In the wake of the incident, the police in the state confirmed the abduction of the students but said they didn’t know the exact number of students missing from the school.

Hours later, the police claimed they had rescued over 200 abducted boys.

The abduction happened hours after President Buhari arrived in Katsina State for private vacation.

Though in his Daura hometown in the state, the President had condemned the abduction but  yet to visit the school.

Buhari instead sent a delegation from Abuja to visit the school and sympathise with their parents.

There was a protest in Kastina State on Sunday over the abduction of many schoolboys from the school located in the Kankara Local Government Area of the state,

The protesters demanded the prompt rescue of students abducted by bandits on Friday night.

The protest was led by a woman who identified herself as one of the mothers of the abducted students.

The protesters went around the school’s premises and some parts of the town with placards conveying various messages, among which are ‘Government must speak out’, ‘We want our children back’ and ‘We want security in Kankara’.

The protesters also chanted songs seeking the rescue of the abducted students.