The abducted students of Bethel Baptist High School have confirmed to the school’s management 121 of them were kidnapped by bandits.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Rev. Yahaya Adamu Jangado, President of the Baptist Conference and Proprietor of Bethel Baptist High school, Kaduna, said the number of abductees given by the bandits was corroborated by students and that the students were in good health.

He also noted that 28 students were rescued in an operation.

“Today (Tuesday), by the grace of God, we had a call from the bandits and they assured us that our children are well and doing okay,” Daily Trust quoted him as saying.

“In fact, we had the privilege of speaking with a few of them. They counted themselves in the jungle and they gave us information that they are 121 and when we put the number together with what we have recovered, we discovered that the number is exactly the same as the number of students we have in the hostel.”

READ ALSO: Parents of Abducted Kaduna Students Threaten to Burn School Down

The exact number of students with the bandits had been a subject of controversy. FIJ had reported how some parents, frustrated with the silence from the government over the number of students who were reportedly rescued, threatened to raze the school.

A no-ransom-policy by the state government led by Nasir el-Rufai does little to assure the parents that their children would be released early.