Kaduna torture centre inmates chained for eight years -– Commissioner

Byadmin

October 20, 2019

2 min read 315 words 9 views

The Kaduna State Commissioner for Human Services and Social
Development, Hajiya Hafsat Baba, on Sunday said some of the inmates
rescued at the Niga Rehabilitation and Skill Acquisition Centre,
Rigasa in Igabi Local Government Area of the state were chained for
eight years.

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State led some policemen to
raid the centre on Saturday where 147 women, men as well as
children were rescued.

The inmates comprise 125 males and 22 females among them four
foreigners from Cameroon and Niger Republic.

On Sunday, the commissioner said the state had commenced the
process of reuniting the inmates with their families

According to the commissioner, some of the inmates have been in
chains for eight years, adding that the chains were removed on
Sunday.

“They have been under torture. They were all in chains. We have
to call a welder to remove the chains in their legs. Some of them
have been in chains for eight years. They just removed the chains
this afternoon,” she said.

She also said the inmates were tested for HIV while those with
mental issues were taken to the Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital
in Barnawa, Kaduna.

Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission has ordered
investigations into the activities of illegal detention centres
recently uncovered by security agencies to establish cases of
violation of human rights for possible prosecution.

The Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Tony Ojukwu, directed the
commission’s State Coordinators in the North-West to unravel the
circumstances surrounding the illegal detention centres and the
children abducted in Kano.

Ojukwu, in a statement by the Director Corporate Affairs and
External Linkages, Lambert Oparah, said, “This will enable the
commission to ascertain the various aspects of human rights
violations perpetrated by the operators of the so-called
educational and rehabilitation centres preparatory to ensuring
their prosecution and punishment in line with the law.”