Abike Dabiri-Erewa, a former aide of President Buhari and chairperson of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission joined the array of misinformation that has characterised the Buhari administration with a false claim of rescue operation on the kidnapped Kankara schoolboys. 

Ms. Dabiri-Erewa on Thursday tweeted via her verified Twitter handle that the abducted boys were rescued by the Nigerian government despite a trending video released by Boko Haram showing the boys in helpless condition. 

Realising her folly when called out for circulating fake news, Ms. Dabiri-Erewa quickly deleted the post and claimed the tweet wasn’t from her handle. Commenters on Twitter promptly presented receipt of the post.

But rather than retract, the senior foreign affairs official doubles down on her falsehood, claiming a cyber breach within the minute.

“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, ” she claimed.

Meanwhile the Katsina state government has denied rumours that the over 300 Kankara school children abducted by Boko Haram have been released.

Secretary to the Katsina State Government, Mustapha Inuwa Thursday afternoon told the BBC that news that the boys had been released was untrue. He, however, expressed optimism that the children would be released soon.