Masari in a statement released on Sunday, December 13, said that 333 boys were still missing after bandits struck at the school.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, however, told BBC Hausa Service that only 10 boys were abducted by 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. The 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.”

According to reports, the victims, three males and a female, and some other graduates from Rufus Giwa Polytechnic had charted a bus from Owo, Ondo State to the Zamfara state camp ground were they were posted to.

However as their bus driver passed through Funtua in Katsina state, armed men suspected to be kidnappers, barricaded the road and attacked their bus. While the driver and some other students fled, Four of the students were kidnapped and have been taken to an unknown destination.

Confirming the incident, the spokesman of the Nigeria Poliuce Force, DCP Frank Mba, said
“It is true. Four of them were kidnapped around 11:30pm. The command has launched a manhunt for their captors in order to ensure their safe rescue. The command is making progress in its investigation and operation.”