LAGOS, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's northeast Yobe state government on Thursday apologized for claiming that some of the abducted school girls at Government Girls College Dapchi had been rescued.
Abdullahi Bego, a government spokesperson gave the apology over the statement, which turned out to be untrue.
"We issued the statement on the basis of information provided by one of the security agencies that is involved in the fight against Boko Haram and which we had no reason to doubt," he added.
"We have now established that the information we relied on to make the statement was not credible. The Yobe State Government apologizes for that," he said.
The spokesperson said Governor Ibrahim Gaidam solicited for more patience as government and security agencies at all levels continued the work to address the unfortunate situation.
The governor had directed the Ministry of Education to work with the security agencies to establish the actual number of the girls still unaccounted for.
"You should contact parents and the community for possible information that could be useful in the investigation," he added.
According to him, government will continue to do everything necessary in partnership with security agencies and the Federal Government to address the situation.
The insurgents on Monday night attacked Government Girls' Science Technical College in Dapchi, Bursari Local Government Area, and abducted some of the students.
There have been conflicting reports on the incidence among state and federal institutions and officials.
The state government said at least 46 were missing. Other reports put the figure at 13.
The governor of Nigeria's northeastern state of Yobe, Ibrahim Gaidam, on Thursday said none of the schoolgirls declared missing after an attack by terror group Boko Haram earlier this week was rescued by the military.
Over 94 students were missing at first, and the state government said 28 returned late Tuesday and 20 more came back early Wednesday.
