There was drama in front of the Ahmad Bn Hambal Islamiyya School in Rigasa, Igaba Local Government of Kaduna State when parents of the over 300 children evacuated by police called for the release of their children from police custody, saying they see no reason why the police should take their wards away from the school. The police had on Thursday, raided the school, and took with them over 300 children in 15 Danfo buses to the Kaduna Police Command headquarters.

Police authorities alleged that the children were said to have been placed in dehumanizing conditions, cramped in rooms, with some of them in chains while others had big scars and injuries on their bodies which must have been as a result of torture. There were also allegations of sexual abuse.

Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, CP Ali Aji Janga, while briefing newsmen after the raid, said they acted based on information that something is going on at the rehabilitation centre. He said, “So, I sent my DPO here to check what was going on. On getting here, we discovered that this is neither a rehabilitation centre nor Islamic school. You can see it yourself that they are small children, some of whom are brought from neighbouring African countries like Burkina Faso, Mali and others and from across Nigeria. Most of them were even chained.

“The man operating this home claimed that parents brought their children here for rehabilitation. But, from the look of things, this is not a rehabilitation centre. No reasonable parent will bring his children to this place. “So, we are going to investigate them and get to the root of the matter.

We will find out the real motive behind this centre, and if they are found wanting they will be charged to court.” The proprietor of the centre, Malam Ismaila, had however refuted the allegations, saying all they do in the centre is to teach Islam. He said, “All those allegations of torture, dehumanization and homosexuality are false and mere allegations. We do nothing here other than teaching people Islam.

“They don’t do anything other than recitation of Qur’an, pray and worship God. Those chained are the stubborn ones who attempted running away. Those who don’t attempt running away are not chained. Some were chained before and after settling down, they were freed. On hearing about the raid on Friday, parents of the children stormed the school premises and demanded the release of the children from police custody. The school was however shut down.

The parents, mostly mothers, stormed the school on Friday morning as security was beefed up at the school entrance, and calling on police authorities to reunite them with their children. Daily Trust Saturday gathered that students, including the matured men among them, were mostly drug addicts and children whose parents took to the school for rehabilitation and also to acquire quranic knowledge.

One of the women, Shafa’atu Zakari, said she has six children in the school who were drug addicts and were uncontrollable, which was why she took them to the school to acquire Qu’ranic knowledge.

“We brought the children to the school because we don’t know what to do with them. Presently, four of my children are among the children evacuated by the police. We demand for their release because the founder of the school is doing everything possible within Islamic teaching to rehabilitate them for us,” she said.

Maman Jibril, whose son Jibril has been in the school for six years, said, “The boy became a threat to us (his parents) so we took him to the Islamiyya school for rehabilitation and to God be the glory he has changed. I visit him from time to time and I have never seen anything wrong going on in the school.

Ahmed Balarabe, who lives close to the school, denied the allegations of sexual abuse on the children as alleged by the police. He said, “I share a fence with the school and my two sons attended the same school before their graduation, and they never told me anything of such. Being a neighbor, who also has access to the school, I should know if such a thing is happening there,” he said.

One of the directors of the school, Malam Mohammed Auwal El’Zubair, also denied all allegations made by the police, saying all the children were brought with the consent of their parents. On Friday morning, our correspondents noticed that the children were taken to the Ranchers Bees Stadium where they were kept to be handed over to the appropriate agency in charge of children’s welfare. They range from ages 5 to 18 and are all male. Our correspondents were however prevented from talking to the children.