Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, on Tuesday reacted to claims that the kidnap and release of 344 students of Government Science Secondary School, GSSS, Kankara, Katsina State was staged.
He said in an interview on Channels Television breakfast programme, 'Sunrise Daily,' that only a heartless person would stage the kidnap of innocent children.
Shehu added that from the accounts of the released boys, they were subjected to inhumane treatment while in the bush and no one should say such an incident was staged.
The Kankara schoolboys who relived their experiences had said,
"We ate only once in two days, defecated in the same place we slept."
However, Shehu described the allegations of the kidnap of the victims as strange, saying, “It is just being ridiculous. How can anybody do this? Then people must be heartless if they should do this and subject these young people to that.
“You heard the accounts. These young people were kept in the forest. They were fed once on raw potatoes and drips of water for seven days.
“See the suffering they were subject to. I don’t think any decent human being will subject innocent young people to this kind of thing. Nobody should say this please.”
He also denied claims that ransome was paid to secure the release of the schoolboys revealing that they were released based on joint effort of Katsina and Zamfara State governments who used repentant bandits.
“All of the leading actors involved in the release of the children said no ransom was paid. They used repentant bandits to gain access to the bandits in the forest and they had the children released.
“So, to the best of our knowledge, no ransom was paid.”
Over 333 students of GSSS, Kankara were abducted on Friday, December 11 after gunmen on motorcycles invaded the school at night.
It occurred same night when President Muhammadu Buhari travelled to Daura, his hometown in Katsina for a private visit.
The abduction of the students sparked outrage with calls from various individuals and groups on the government to step up efforts towards securing the lives of the people.
