The federal government on Wednesday refuted reports about the abduction of 60 women in Damboa, Borno State, saying there were no facts to justify the claim.

The coordinator, national information centre, Mike Omeri, said that a thorough search has been conducted and that its  findings show nothing on the ground to prove any act of abduction.

Omeri said that governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State, confirmed that there were no sufficient facts on the alleged abduction of 60 women.

“We hereby wish to state that based on available facts before us there was no abduction of 60 persons in Borno. I am going to protest to some media houses by writing a protest letter because they are not giving the right information, what they do is worrisome,” the coordinator said.

He said the situation reinforces the need for media organisations to always refer to the centre before going to press, adding that that any other contrary action would be deemed as a deliberate attempt to create confusion and fear among the populace.

Commenting on the fate of the 486 persons travelling to Port Harcourt in a convoy of 35 buses and were intercepted in Abia, Omeri said 144 of the number had been released.

He said that the other were still being kept and had been making useful information having been interrogated, adding that the security agencies were on the trail of their sponsor.

“Those interrogated have mentioned names of individuals and the security agencies are on their trail,” Omeri said.

He said that one of the suspects connected with the packaging of the trip had been named and investigations were on to unravel issues involved in the incident.