The Katsina state governor, Aminu Bello Masari, hasassired parents and the citizens of his state of the safety of all the abducted boys.
Masari, dismissed reports that two of the abducted students of the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, in the state had died.
There have been reports that one of the boys who escaped from the bandits had shared the story of how two of his classmates died in the hands of their abductors who stormed their school on the night of Friday, December 11, and abducted over 300 of them.
However, speaking in an interview on Channels TV on Wednesday, December 16, the Governor said the abducted students are all alive.
”The children are alive and we have not received any report that anyone had fallen sick. So we assume that all is well with the children.
I was in touch with at least two of the students that escaped on Saturday. I was also in touch on Monday with two that came back.
With the four that have been reunited with their families, none of them reported any of the students died.”Governor Masari said
Contrary to the claims made by Boko Haram claiming responsibility for the abduction, the governor said based on security reports at his disposal, bandits were responsible for the incident.
“The reports we have and from the information available to us, this abduction was conducted, executed by the local bandits that are known to all of us. I am not discountenancing any foreign (connivance) either ISWAP or Boko Haram indirectly working with the bandits.
For over one year, there are signs that some of the elements of the bandits are making contacts with some of the elements of the Boko Haram,” he said
The Boko Haram sect had released a video in which its factional leader, Abubakar Shekau, claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.