Nigeria: Buhari orders raid on religious ‘torture schools’
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday ordered massive clampdown on illegal religious schools across Nigeria.
These Islamic schools called rehabilitation centres are reportedly subjecting children in their care to torture and other inhumane activities.
On Saturday authorities freed nearly 150 students from one of such centres in northern Nigeria which claimed it was teaching the children about Koran.
That was the fourth such operation in a month, bringing the total number of children freed from religious schools in northern Nigeria to more than 1,000.
Kaduna state governor Nasir El Rufai had ordered the raid on the Islamic reform school in Rigasa, officials said.
Officials said some females were part of the latest rescue signalling the massive scale of these abuses.
Kaduna Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Yakubu Sabo, said “During the raid, some of the inmates made certain allegations of maltreatment, including sexual molestation, particularly by the female inmates.”
President Muhammadu Buhari, according to his office has now ordered the Nigeria Police Force to carry out more raids to close such illegal correctional centres across the country.
A statement from the presidency said “President Buhari notes that such arrests are in line with his commitment to human rights and dignity of the citizens, regardless of their age, religion and ethnicity.”
“President Buhari will not support criminality under any guise, including the abduction of children and selling them off illegally,” the statement added.
Source: Africafeeds.com
