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Agaju Madugba, Katsina
The Katsina State Police Command has sealed a “torture” centre located in Daura, the hometown of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The development comes on the heels of a similar incident in Kaduna where the police uncovered a centre where children and adults were subjected to various levels of inhuman treatment in the guise of religion.
The Mallam Bello Mai Almajarai Rehabilitation Centre located at the Nasarawa quarters of Daura came into limelight last Sunday when the inmates dared the authorities by breaking out of the facility and protesting in the streets over alleged “inhuman treatment.”
Reacting to the report, the Emir of Daura, Alhaji Umar Farouk Umar, said he was shocked that his domain was host to such a centre in the name of rehabilitating certain individuals.
He urged the police to ensure that the facilitators face the law.
The Katsina State Police Commissioner, Sanusi Buba, who led reporters on a tour of the facility yesterday, confirmed that “a number of the inmates were sodomised, tortured and treated like slaves and we have been able to ascertain that at least six of them had died as a result of the treatment meted out to them.
“The sodomy was carried out by those supposed to be training and correcting the youths and some of them escaped during the protest.” Buba added that the proprietor of the facility has been arrested.
According to him, “this place, from preliminary investigations, belongs to Mallam Bello. He has been a Koranic teacher for a very long time. Information gathered indicated that for close to 40 years, he has been around here.
“From here, he graduated to the level of collecting children for the purpose of rehabilitating them, some of them underage while others of age were brought here by their parents supposedly for the purpose of rehabilitating them.
“Unfortunately, as you can see the place, about six small rooms each to accommodate over 40 people with chains and subjected to all forms of dehumanization unbecoming of any civilized rehabilitation center.
“This Mallam, I understand, started well and gradually the center degenerated into this unfortunate circumstance. Shabby looking accommodation, six rooms to accommodate over 300 people.
“The situation became so bad that they could not bear it and so they revolted yesterday (Sunday) and started rioting and escaping from this facility.
“Our attention was brought to it and I expeditiously mobilised my policemen to come and seal off the facility, and also directed the AC CID to come and get the details and effect the arrest of the owners of the facility, including Mallam Bello himself who is the leader.
“And in the course of confession, I was made to understand some of the teachers who were indulging in homosexual attitude with the victims escaped but we will definitely trace them.
“I understand that some of the cases were reported to the Mallam while in some, he may not even know the atrocities committed by some of his aides in the name of teaching this people some Koranic knowledge and trying to rehabilitate them from their bad ways.
“I was made to understand that he doesn’t even accept insane people. Sane people were brought here by their parents; probably they are stubborn, attitude of stealing, drug addicts with the thinking that when they are brought here, they will be reformed.
“Close to 200 escaped while about 60 of them are left behind. We are going to put heads together with the Emirate council and the state government so that we can put in place machinery of ensuring that all these people are returned to their parents because this man does not have the capacity.
“First, he is not registered. Two, he does not have the capacity to sustain the so-called kind of rehabilitation center. There is no rehabilitation in this place.
“Their parents bring money, food items and what have you for their upkeep but these don’t reach them.
“They are being maltreated, manhandled, underfed, not medically taken care of in this most dehumanising situation.
“Almost all of them were chained. And they were being beaten. If you see their backs, you can see signs of torture, which is sad and very unfortunate.
“We are still going to continue to investigate and all these other aides of the Mallam who are implicated in this dastardly act of homosexuality and other maltreatment will be traced and tracked down.
“So far, we have arrested the owner of the facility along with two other persons.”
