BREAKING: I Didn’t Verify Claim Gunmen Abducted Only 10 Katsina Students – Garba Shehu

After claiming that only 10 students were abducted from the Government Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State, instead of the 333 confirmed by Governor Aminu Bello Masari, presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, has withdrawn his earlier statement.

Shehu’s clarification came after he was criticized for giving a figure of missing students that contradicted the one earlier given by the Katsina State Governor.

He had told BBC Hausa that, “…only ten children are remaining in the hands of the gunmen according to their colleagues who escaped from the gunmen.”

Governor Masari had earlier confirmed that a total of 333 of the 839 students of the school were still unaccounted for as of Sunday.

The governor made the confirmation while briefing the federal government delegation led by the Minister of Defence, Salihi Magashi, at the Katsina Government House on Sunday.

But Shehu, in a tweet on Monday, said his earlier statement was yet to be verified.

“Some of the returning students debriefed by the military disclosed that 10 of their colleagues were taken by the bandits. As I said to the BBC, that still needed to be verified.

“Of course, this is different from saying that all the others had been been accounted for. The forests and neighboring villages are being searched and parents are being contacted for information about their children,” he said.

Of course this is different from saying that all the others had been been accounted for. The forests and neighboring villages are being searched and parents are being contacted for information about their children.

— Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) December 14, 2020