The Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has distanced herself from a tweet announcing the release of Katsina schoolboys to her, saying she lost control of her Twitter and Instagram accounts for some minutes.
Few hours after a video of Boko Haram Commander, Abubakar Shekau, circulated across the internet, confirming the capture of the over 300 boys, a piece of news, announced the release of 333 Katsina Schoolboys captured recently.
Dabiri-Erewa announced that her account was hacked and she had retrieved it and changed her passwords. “Pls don’t credit any post on katsina boys to my Twitter handle. I lost control of my handle in the last couple of minutes, along with my Instagram. I have recovered and changed my password.”
Her statement has since elicited anger on Twitter, with many accusing her of being insensitive to the state of the schoolboys abducted by Boko Haram.
Earlier on Thursday, Boko Haram released a video showing that it has custody of the students abducted from a government secondary school in Kankara, Katsina State.
In the six-minute-and-30-second footage, tens of young boys could be seen behind him, all covered in dust and appearing to be within a forest area.
The relatively older schoolboy who spoke urged the Nigerian Government to settle amicably with their abductors and advised against the use of military force in rescuing them.
“Please, you have to dissolve any gang of vigilantes, close any kind of schools, excluding Islamiyyah [Qur’anic schools]. All the troops who have come here to help us, please send them back,” one of the abducted schoolboys pleaded in the released video.
Some parents of the abducted on Wednesday converged on the premises of the school expecting the return of their children as promised by the government.
Their reported release comes six days after they were abducted.
The abduction was initially blamed bandits, who are active in the unstable region where kidnappings for ransom are common. But Boko Haram said in audio message that it was responsible for the kidnap.
Nigeria Army on Monday said it had located the hideout of the men, and that a military operation was under way to rescue them.
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