Nasir-El-Rufai
The police have raided another illegal Islamic rehabilitation centre in the Rigasa area of Kaduna State.
This time, the state governor, Nasir El-Rufai on Saturday was present as security operatives stormed the illegal facility in Igabi Local Government Area of the state.
About 147 victims with some of them in chains were rescued from the facility popularly known as Malam Niga’s Rehabilitation Centre.
Among those rescued included 22 females and four foreigners while the owner of the centre was whisked away by security operatives for interrogation.
The rescued victims were later evacuated to the Hajj Camp in Mando area of the state capital for further profiling and medical attention.
“The centre claimed that it was certified to rehabilitate train people in skills acquisition. The owner said they were brought by their parents to undergo rehabilitation as a result of drug abuse or other forms of mental sickness. we will investigate and find out why the people were chained”.
“The owner has been arrested and the children have been taken to hajj camp by the state governor for medical checks and eventual reunion with their parents,” he said.
Among those rescued were twenty females, four foreigners from Cameron and Niger Republics and three underraged children. The inmates are under the care of the State Ministry of Human Services and Social Development with policemen deployed to guard them.
The Commissioner for Human Services and Social Development, Hafsat Baba who was at the camp confirmed to journalists that 22 inmates were females while four were foreigners.
“The number of inmates evacuated from the centre was 147 in total among them 22 females while four were foreigners from Niger and Cameroon. We also have underage among the inmates and those who are mentally not stable. We have contacted a psychiatric doctor who will come to examine them,” she said.
According to the government, the victims would be reunited with their families upon the completion of the exercise.
This is the second time that the police in collaboration with the state government would be busting such centres in same Rigassa where over three hundred persons were rescued from different degrees of torture and chains one month ago.
