Boko Haram terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the kidnap of students from Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State.
The group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, made this known in a 4:28 long recording released in the wee hours of Tuesday and obtained by HumAngle.
Shekau said the boys were kidnapped to promote Islam and discourage western education.
“What happened in Katsina was done to promote Islam and discourage un-Islamic practices as Western education is not the type of education permitted by Allah and his Holy Prophet,” Shekau said.
According to him, “The school is not teaching what Allah and his Holy Prophet commanded. They are rather destroying Islam.”
The Boko Haram leader noted that though their actions may be subtle, “Allah the Lord of the skies and earth knows whatever is hidden. May Allah promote Islam. May we die as Muslims.”
“In a nutshell, we are behind what happened in Katsina,” Shekau added.
Sources within the insurgent group informed HumAngle that the reason for the 72-hour delay in claiming responsibility for the attack was that they were trying to first ensure they had “secured” the schoolboys.
Meanwhile, the federal government has assured that the students would be rescued soon.
Speaking about the number of schoolboys abducted from the school, Boko Haram disclosed that it currently has 523 children in captivity.
A source within the group confirmed this to HumAngle on Tuesday. Prior to this, there had been at least five conflicting figures in the press.
Soon after the abduction took place, several reports in the media had estimated that about 600 pupils of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, were missing as some gradually emerged from the surrounding forest in the morning.
On Sunday, Aminu Masari, Governor of Katsina State narrowed the figure down to 333 students and said the government was yet to be contacted by the group responsible for the abduction.
“Based on the available record we have, we are still searching for 333 students through either the forest or their parents to ascertain the actual number that has been kidnapped,” Masari said when he received a Federal Government delegation from Abuja.
However, on the same day, Garba Shehu, presidential spokesperson, claimed only 10 students were with the gunmen.
“Some of the children who fled the bush said that 10 children were being held hostage by the gunmen,” he told BBC Hausa.
According to a Daily Trust report published on Monday, 668 students were missing according to the official records of the Government Secondary School, and that the school had a total student population of 1,074.
Also, a recent account of one of the abductees who escaped placed the figure at 520, which is consistent with the information from Boko Haram sources.
“After we were taken into the forest, one of them ordered us to stop and count before continuing our journey. They asked one of us to count and there were 520 students,” the schoolboy told BBC Hausa on Monday.
