… They kept us with hardened criminals, fed us with garri, extorted our parents

By Bashir Bello, Kano

Some of the minors arrested in Kano in connection with the August 1 to August 10 nationwide protests but freed by President Bola Tinubu have recounted their ordeals while in incarceration.

The freed minors, who took turns to share their horror with Sunday Vanguard, said they saw hell in custody as they were kept with hardened criminals and also starved for days.

Ibrahim Aliyu, resident in Sharada/Jaen, said only God spared their lives.

“I spent over three months in custody. We saw hell. It was only God that saved our lives. Even before we spent one month, we were just collapsing talk less of now that we spent over three months”, Aliyu said.

“When we were arrested, they took us to Bompai. After a day, we were transferred to Abuja and held at the Force CID.

“Later, we were taken to the RRT where they kept us in a place called Abattoir SARS.

“We spent one month there and then taken to prison.

“We saw hell as life was miserable in that place because you that were not arrested with common broomstick were kept in the same place with hardened criminals who were not your age mates. It was risky to be in the midst of such people.

“The food they gave us was not enough.

“Meanwhile, I was not part of the protests. I was arrested after I left my house and was on my way to the market”.

Personnel extorted our parents — Musa

Another minor, Yahaya Musa, resident in Zangon Dakata, who said he was incarcerated for 95 days, recounted how the personnel extorted their parents by telling them to call the parents to send money for feeding which they didn’t provide for them.

“We saw hell. At times, we spent two days without food. And when they managed to bring the food, they brought only garri for us to drink.

“We spent one month with the police and were later moved to the prison where we spent three months.

“At first, the personnel told us not to reveal our location to our parents.

“They only gave us phones to call our parents to send feeding money to us. And even when they sent the money, they will not give us, they will say the money had finished.

“There was a time one of the officials came to meet us and asked what did we want to eat and we told him we wanted bread and pap. He went and never came back until after two days”.

We were not given food for 17 days — Sunusi

Sadiq Sunusi, 13-year-old resident of Dorayi, on his part, said they were starved for 17 days.
According to him, he was arrested by the police when he was sent on an errand.

“I was arrested in Gadon Kaya. I was sent on an errand to Kurmin Market when I was arrested. I even misplaced the money dad gave me to buy something for him”, he narrated.
“After we were arrested, we were transferred to Abattoir SARS.

“We suffered a lot. We spent 17 days without us being given food by the officials. Only those who were inside were helping us with food.

“I cannot thank Mr. President and Governor Yusuf enough for coming to our aid”.

How we secured minors’ release — Kano AG

Meanwhile, Kano State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Haruna Dederi, said the state government facilitated the release of the minors by joining other Nigerians to appeal to the Federal Government to look into the matter, a situation he believed prompted action by President Tinubu.

Dederi said: “The state government facilitated the release of the minors by appealing to the Federal Government to look into the matter by respecting the fundamental rights of the minors that were taken into custody.

“And the appeal did not fall on deaf ears. Happily enough, the appeal was listened to and that was why the Governor thanked Mr. President for listening.

“Initially, when the attention of the Governor was drawn to the appearance of teenagers in the Abuja court, he gave us directive to do everything possible to get them back to Kano.
“We immediately swung into action and reached out to the Federal Government, specifically to the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF.

“We drew their attention to the fact that the minors were not meant to be subjected to the kind of treatment they were made to undergo in the hands of the police.

“Secondly, we said they had been in incarceration for unnecessarily length of period and they ought to have been arraigned and brought to book within a reasonable time as provided by the law.
“We also appealed that the offences were too heavy and they were offences which are state offences which should have been left within the confines of the state in which the offences were alleged to have been committed.

“So, those appeals were listened to by the Federal Government which informed the prompt action of President Bola Tinubu and the Federal Government.

“And after the release, the state government has made an undertaking to provide rehabilitation in the form of medical attention, educational support (return those out of school back to school) and financial support for those into business”.