Nine out of the 102 internally displaced persons reportedly abducted while fetching firewood in the bush last Sunday in Gamboru-Ngala, Borno State, have returned home.

While the United Nations had condemned the abduction, putting the figure at 200, the Borno State government dismissed the abduction narrative, arguing that they only lost their way back home from the forest.

The Director-General, Borno State Emergency Management Agency, Dr. Barkindo Saidu, said if they were abducted, the abductors would have called for ransom, but that’s not the case.

He told the Punch that nine out of the'missing’ IDPs traced their way back to the camp last Friday.

Saidu said the state government has been careful about quoting any number because the authorities do not believe the IDPs, as they can be economical with the truth.