For years, they operated as rehabilitation homes for hard drug users or mentally-challenged people. With the bursting of their operations in Kano, Kaduna, Zaria, Katsina, Ilorin, Lagos and Ibadan, it is clear that these are houses of horrors, writes DAMOLA KOLA-DARE
“I have been here for two years. I just found myself here one morning two years ago. My extended family accused me of converting to Christianity, just because I spent 16 years in the UK and married a British. For them, they think they are helping me because, since I have become a Christian, I am supposed to die. Now, I am diabetic. I can’t access drugs and all the food they give us contains carbohydrates.”
Those where the touching words of Hassan Yusuf, PhD holder in Energy Economics who had a nightmarish experience in the Kaduna torture centre.
However, the recent spotlight on the North where torture centres masquerading as informal reformatory Koranic schools or rehabilitation centres were discovered, has extended to the Southwest with the latest discovery of torture homes in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital and Lagos State.
Akin to Nazi’s concentration camps during the Holocaust, the torture centres reveal a grim picture of manacled men and children subjected to terrifying treatment amid inhuman and debasing conditions. It is a moving tale of man’s inhumanity to man, worse than Dante’s infernal hell.
From Lagos to Kaduna, Zaria, Katsina, Kano to Ilorin, and then Ibadan, victims recount their raw ordeal in the hands of cruel masters.
It was gathered that there are more than plenty of people enrolled in so-called schools.
Ibadan
A victim, Atilola Sadiq, rescued from the Ibadan torture home stated that his mother took him to the centre because she detested the friends he moved with and she wanted him to have a sound knowledge of the Quran.
He said: “I spent two years at the centre. Anytime I try to tell my parents the suffering we experience here, I receive hundreds of lashes of the horsewhip.”
He noted that the operators of the centre hide behind the veneer of religion to extort money from people and even sexually abuse unsuspecting parents who brought their children.
Bashir Olanrewaju, who was also freed from the Ibadan torture home, disclosed that he had been in there for five years because he was addicted to cannabis. He said those held captive were subjected to varying degrees of cruelty.
He said: “I was brought here in 2015. I have spent four years. My parents didn’t like my addiction to Indian hemp. All of us here suffered terrible treatment.
Some, who could not bear the anguish, died and their corpses were buried without the consent of their parents.”
Ilorin
One of the female victims rescued from the Gaa-Odota, Ilorin torture centre, Olaide Arikewuyo, said she had spent five years in the centre, and alleged that she was sexually abused by the uncle of the owner of the facility.
“I lived with the owner of the centre in their apartment and the uncle used to sleep with me every night.
”I had nobody to turn to and it was not easy to escape from there, I had been abused by five men. I was impregnated and had three abortions. I just thank God that the police came to my rescue,” she said.
Abdulazeez Korede, who was taken to the Ilorin centre by his parents under the guise of delivering him from his addiction to hard drugs, said: “I was brought here by my parents because they wanted me to stop taking hard drugs. But surprisingly, I was chained, severely beaten and taken underground where other guys like me were kept. I was kept in that dungeon for four months as there was no sunlight or window or good food.”
Owonifari Tope said he was taken to the centre because of his troublesome nature and smoking habit.
He added: “The owner of the centre gave my parents a bill of N200,000 for my treatment. I spent four days which seemed like four years to me.”
Lagos
A victim of the Lagos centre (a church in Ijegun), Solomon Ogbokri, who disclosed that his parents took him there, lamented that he was in chains for eight months as the supposed cleric fruitlessly tried to ‘deliver’ him from alcohol addiction and abuse.
Adewale Adetona, another victim of the Ijegun torture centre in Lagos, who was taken to the said church for ‘spiritual healing because of his embarrassing behaviour in public’, noted that being chained for over six months had made him downcast.
His words: “I was brought to this place by my family against my wish. I have been staying here until the police came to free us. I am not happy staying in this church. I have my own life to live. It is degrading to have been chained for so long. But now, I am happy because I have regained my freedom.”
For the rescued men, women and children, they will live to remember the harrowing experience and the desultory days spent in the torture chambers which ought to have been rehabilitation centres for them.
Kaduna
The Sheikh Ahmad Bin Hambal Islamic School and Rehabilitation Centre raided by the Kaduna State Police Command is male-only, but the Malam Niga Centre, also in the same state, kept 147 inmates of both genders under dehumanising conditions. One of them, Hauwa Muhammad, an indigene of Nasarawa State, who lived with her parents in Abuja said, she was brought to Malam Niga Centre by her father 11 months ago because she was abusing cocaine and other drugs.
22-year-old Hauwa said: “I was abused by a lot of boys. I was abused several times by the son-in-law of Malam Niga, Hassan Sani Dauda. And we told Malam what Hassan was doing to us; he refused to believe because Hassan is his daughter’s husband. And he even refused to investigate the allegation.
“For his sexual pleasure and desire, Hassan made us make love with ourselves. I mean, he subjected us to lesbianism and he would watch us for his pleasure. And when we refuse, he would hit us with the gora (big stick) in his hand. Look at my wrist, my hand is no longer straight because he hit me with a stick.
“Hassan is just a son-in-law of Malam Niga, but because he has seen an opportunity to abuse female inmates sexually, he pretended to be an instructor helping the centre.
“Raping us was like a daily delight for him. It was not only me; he raped seven of us often. In fact, there is a girl he deflowered and raped through her anus. There are three boys, Hayatullah, AbdulMalik and Ashiru loyal to Hassan. He would put them on guard to watch for him every time he wants to abuse us.
“Malam Niga’s daughter, who is Hassan’s wife, knows very well what was going on. So, out of jealousy, she would put the boy in the centre to beat and punish us for nothing.
“There is nothing really there in the rehabilitation, the man just lies that he treats people because he lies. We just read Qur’an in the morning, but even the reading, we do it with fear, because, there are big boys standing behind you, beating you. So, most of us don’t really read anything, we just shout and pretend to be reading, so that, we would not be beaten.
“Another thing is, they tie our hands to a pole from behind, sit us down and set fire, put some dried leaves in the fire. Then, they would cover you with about seven blankets to inhale the smoke. So, you just keep inhaling, shouting, begging for help. To them, that is medicine. But, for me, that is not a way to treat a human being.
“He also claims to be treating madness. But, even people that are mad, there is nothing he gives them other than the inhalation. And sometimes when they start their madness, you just hear him say, ‘ba mai bulala ne?’ (Is there nobody with a cane?). Somebody is mad, you promised to cure him and all you do is beat them?”
Another victim of the Nigga Centre, Maryam Lawal, a 21-year-old indigene of Kaduna State, said: “My father brought me here seven months ago because I use to run from my house to friends’ houses. I was not taking drugs. I used to take Shisha so I don’t know why my father will bring me to this kind of place.
“I have been maltreated at the Malam Nigga Centre. I was molested, raped and beaten daily. Hassan beat us, raped us and they make us inhale the smoke that they call medicine. It is not medicine but mere punishment.
“On a few occasions, I almost passed out during the smoke inhalation process; my breath ceased, it was only God that helped me, I would have died. They would tell us that, we must not drink water until after 15 minutes of the inhalation process. We used to be choked and gasp for air.”
Ibrahim Musa, a 32-year-old graduate of Software Engineering and post-graduate student of the Gombe State University, said he came to the centre personally.
“Let me say I came here on my own because I volunteered to be treated for the drug. I had a problem, I was supposed to get married, and then all of a sudden, my wedding was cancelled. Then, I found myself in psychological distress and started doing drug. I was taking cocaine. It became worse that I could no longer do anything except I take the drug.
“Then, I came forward that I had a drug problem and I needed treatment. So, they actually started treatment in Abuja, but my uncle came and told us that there is a place in Kaduna that is cheaper and more effective. My uncle felt that Abuja was too expensive.
“So, they decided to bring me here. My parents don’t even have an idea of how this place looks like. They don’t allow parents to see what goes on inside. They receive them in the front office. I was initially comfortable with what I saw in the front office too. But when I entered, I was surprised. It is over 100 people living in less 30 square metres space.
“It is just a hall, we put mattresses on the floor and sleep if you can’t get a mattress, and you sleep on the bare floor. There is no minimal ventilation, we cook there and do everything. Cockroaches are everywhere. They crawl on your body while you sleep. There are a lot of diseases, especially skin diseases. It is a terrible situation,” he said.
He went on: “When parents come to visit their children, they dare not say the truth about what they are going through inside the house. The guards are always there with you, even when you receive visitors, there is no privacy. So, if you dare say anything about inhuman treatment, they will tie you and give you all manner of punishment. There is an extreme punishment for that.”
“There is something they call ‘Gaschember’. They put some leaves inside the fire and put it under you, cover you in blankets. They make you inhale the smoke and suffocate you with it. I almost passed out inside that blanket. That is the only thing they deem treatment since I came. I was waiting for other treatments and nothing was happening, except everyday beating.
“They put shackles on our legs. I was on shackles for six weeks, but about a week ago, when my uncle came, I had to tell him to make them remove shackles from my legs because my legs were swollen. So, I had to promise them that, I won’t run away. Then, my uncle was made to write an undertaking that I won’t run away. That was when they agreed to remove the shackles.
“There is nothing special there; they just use inmates for free labour. Inmates make things which they sell and make money from them.
“I am very happy that the government has come to our rescue, I was actually waiting for a day like this. Because, initially when I came, they told me I was going to spend three months. But, people there told me it doesn’t work that way. They said that is what they were told too, but after the three months, they would just tell your parents that, you still need to spend more time.
“The centre might have started with good intention, but their methods are not good at all. They force you to do things against your will. At least, agreeing for treatment, I ought to be treated fairly, not being forced to do everything. You barely get to sleep. We sleep like five hours every day and the rest of it, you are working. Some do domestic chores for the house, they don’t employ any staff. Some are in carpentry, others in welding and others. You just make things for them and they sell and make a profit. That is what we do Monday to Sunday, no day off.”
Katsina
In Katsina, sixty seven victims were discovered at the Daura rehabilitation centre and the Niga Rehabilitation and Reformation Centre, Kofar Durbi quarters.
Police spokesman Gambon Isah said: “Police are not holding anybody ‘0’!. We have reunited all the inmates with their families. The 67 inmates we met at the Daura rehabilitation centre and those we found at the Katsina centre have all been reunited with their families.”
A Katsina chief magistrates’ court remanded in prison custody the 78-year-old cleric and owner of the Daura rehabilitation centre, Mallam Bello Abdullahi, over charges of criminal conspiracy, wrongful confinement, and cruelty to children.
The Chairman of the Oyo State Internal Revenue Service (OYIRS), Aremo John Adeleke who spoke during a visit from a group of individuals under the aegis of “Friends of Seyi Makinde” in Oyo state said that the Oyo State Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for October rose to about N2.7billion as he added that it was a clear departure from between N1.2 to N1.3 billion monthly IGR inherited from the previous administration.