Buhari reacts to discovery of ‘torture centres’ in Kaduna

President Muhammadu Buhari has reacted to the discovery of another Islamic rehabilitation centre in Kaduna, where 147 victims were rescued by the police on Saturday, October 19, 2019.

In a statement released after the police raided a correctional centre known as Mallam Niga’s Rehabilitation Centre in the Rigasa area of Kaduna state, the president said he does not support criminality, child-theft, abduction and torture chambers.

The President also commended the police for discovering the centres and exposing their operators.

The statement by his Special Assistant (Media & Publicity), Garba Shehu reads, “Reacting to the incidents and arrests, President Buhari notes that such arrests is in line with his commitment to human rights and dignity of the citizens regardless of their age, religion and ethnicity.

“President Buhari will including the abduction of children and selling them off illegally. On torture chambers, in this day and age, no responsible democratic government would tolerate the existence of the torture chambers and physical abuses of inmates in the name of rehabilitation of the victims.

“The President, therefore, lauds the efforts of the police in exposing these human rights abuses by individuals and criminal groups and is optimistic that these efforts will be sustained to check illegal activities of this nature.

“The President appeals to members of the general public to remain vigilant and assist security agencies in crime prevention and control by reporting the existence of criminal activities around their communities.

“The sharing of human intelligence is everybody’s responsibility in order to make our society safe and this government is ever committed to supporting the police to be more effective in the performance of its duties through proper funding and motivation of its personnel.”

Meanwhile, Kaduna State government has moved the victims rescued from Mallam Niga’s Rehabilitation Centre to Hajj Camp in Mando area of the state for further profiling and medical attention.

The state government also said that the victims would be reunited with their families upon the completion of the exercise.