The police in Kaduna in
central Nigeria have uncovered a house in Rigasa harbouring no fewer than 300
children, chained on the legs and starving.
Some of the children are
between the age of five and ten, TVC News has reported.
The big surprise was that
the children are manacled, possibly to ensure that they do not escape.
According to the report,
the people manning the house of horror claim it’s an Islamic rehabilitation
centre.
The detained children said
they were forced to fast, and that they were were being sexually abused.
The police suspected that
the children may be undergoing some form of indoctrination.
All the children have been
moved, the report said.
TVC did not state whether
the minders of the abused and starving children have been arrested.
Later at a press
conference, the police expatiated on their shock find.
The victims, according to
the police, are from Burkina Faso, Mali and other African countries.
Death and Homosexuality
Bello Hamza, one of the
victims, said he was supposed to be pursuing a Masters Degree in Applied
Mathematics in South Africa, when his family members brought him to the centre,
three months ago.
He told journalists that he
was tricked into the centre by his family members.
Hamza said he spent three
months in chains.
“I got admission to study
Applied Mathematics, but here I am chained. They claim to be teaching us Quran
and Islam but they do a lot of things here. They subject the younger ones to
homosexuality.
“This is supposed to be an
Islamic centre, but trying to run away from here attracts severe punishment;
they tie people and hang them to the ceiling for that, but engaging in
homosexuality attracts no punishment.
“Within my short stay here,
somebody had died as a result of torture. Others have died before my coming due
to poor health and torture. They give us very poor food and we only eat twice a
day; 11:00am and 10:00pm.
“They have denied me a lot
of things here. I am a family man, I have responsibilities, but I am chained
here not knowing what is happening to my family members.”
Ali Janga, Kaduna police
commissioner, said: “We received an information that something is going on in
this rehabilitation centre or Islamic centre. So, I sent my DPO here to check
what was going on.
“On getting here, we
discovered that, this is neither a rehabilitation centre or Islamic school. You
can see it yourself that, small children, some of whom are brought from
neighbouring African countries like Burkina Faso, Mali and others and from
across Nigeria. Most of them are even chained.
“These people are being
used, dehumanised. You can see it yourself. The man who is operating this home
claimed that, parents brought their children here for rehabilitation. But, from
the look on things this is not a rehabilitation centre. No reasonable parent
will bring his children to this place.
“So, we are going to
investigate them and get to the root of the matter. We will find out the real
motive behind this centre, and if they are found wanting they will be charged
to court. But first, we are evacuating all the people from this place to our
station and we will make announcement for parents to come and recover their
children.”
A Malam who claimed to be
the owner of the centre insisted that all they do at the centre is to teach
people Islam. He confirmed that some of the 300 people detained at the centre
were chained.
“Those chained are the
stubborn ones who attempted to run away. Those who don’t attempt running away
are not chained. Some were chained before and after settling down, they were
freed.
“Most of them were brought
by their parents from across the country and others from outside the countries
“All those allegations of
torture, dehumanisation and homosexuality are false. We do nothing here other
than teaching people Islam.
“They don’t do anything
other than, recitation of Qur’an, pray and worship God,” the Malam said.
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