Recently, police stormed a rehabilitation centre in Daura, Katsina state, to rescue its inmates who were allegedly facing inhuman treatments. Some of the inmate of the centre have started recounting the agonising treatment they had to endure.
One of them, Hassan Adamu who escaped from the facility before he instigated a revolt that drew the police to the centre, “torture was the order of the day in the facility. When I was brought there, for about two weeks, I was beaten 30 times in a day – 10 times in the morning, 10 times in the afternoon and 10 times in the night.
“After that I also did frog jump 30 times daily- 10 times in the morning, 10 times in the afternoon and 10 times in the night. And I did that with chains on my hands and legs. If I wanted to sleep, they would chain my hand to the back and would untie it in the morning.”
He said he spent one year and two weeks in the facility but he never witnessed any significant transformation in his behavior. He categorically said no form of rehabilitation was going on in the centre except torture, sodomy and maltreatment.
According to him, “I spent one year and two weeks in the facility. There were a lot of things happening there that if we had spoken out no one would believe us except people entered to see things for themselves. And since it has come to the limelight, we have to say all what we know about the facility.
“In the centre we had shortage of food, we were overcrowded in a room, about 35 or more people were in a small room. If we were pressed at night, we had nylons or leathers given to us where we would defecate and if there was anybody awake outside, we would hand it over to them to help us dispose it in the waste bin. But we were unlucky that nobody was outside, we would have to hide the human waste inside our belongings.
“We were also given containers for urine. We would urinate inside the container and anyone who did not have one would urinate in his food container. In the morning he would pour away the urine and the same container would be used to serve pap. Sometimes, they would say they would say they excused us from our daily prayers when there was no water to perform ablution. The food was tasteless.”
Another victim said their teacher and others whose names he mentioned subjected him to homosexuality.
Another victim, Fahad Jubrilla Mubi who was brought from Adamawa State said six people died in his presence while other two developed mental problem due to the unbearable conditions in the facility.
“I have spent two years here. I was brought from Adamawa state for drug addiction and wayward behaviour. Some had spent eight years, some five years, three years and also one year. We went through hell in this facility.
“We were abused, we were starved. When we fell sick, they would not give us any medication. Six people died in my presence due to the unbearable conditions. Two other people also developed mental problem here. We were tired of the atrocities and so we revolted and protested which led to over 200 inmates escaping while about 67 of us were left behind,” he said.
