'Used and dehumanised': Dozens of boys found chained in Nigeria

[rooster59]

'Used and dehumanised': Dozens of boys found chained in Nigeria

By Garba Muhammad and Bosun Yakusak

 

Police officers stand with detained Islamic teachers in the northern city of Kaduna, Nigeria September 26, 2019, in this grab obtained from a video. TELEVISION CONTINENTAL/Reuters TV via REUTERS

 

KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) - More than 300 boys and men, some as young as five and many in chains and bearing scars from beatings, have been rescued in a raid on a building that purported to be an Islamic school in northern Nigeria, police said on Friday.

 

Most of the freed captives seen by a Reuters reporter in the city of Kaduna were children, aged up to their late teens. Some shuffled with their ankles manacled and others were chained by their legs to large metal wheels to prevent escape.

 

One boy, held by the hand by a police officer as he walked unsteadily, had sores visible on his back that appeared consistent with injuries inflicted by a whip.

 

Some children had been brought from neighbouring countries including Burkina Faso, Mali and Ghana, police said, while others had been left by their parents in what they believed to be an Islamic school or rehabilitation centre.

 

"This place is neither a rehab or an Islamic school because you can see it for yourselves," Kaduna state's police commissioner, Ali Janga, told reporters. "The children gathered here are from all over the country... some of them were even chained. They were used, dehumanized, you can see it yourself."

 

Kaduna police spokesman Yakubu Sabo said seven people who said they were teachers at the school had been arrested in Thursday's raid.

 

"The state government is currently providing food to the children who are between the ages of five and above," he said. It was not clear how long the captives had been held there.

 

RELATIVES SUSPICIOUS

 

Reports carried by local media said the captives had been tortured, starved and sexually abused. Reuters was not immediately able to confirm those details.

 

One young man, Hassan Yusuf, said he had been sent to the school because of concerns about his way of life following a few years studying abroad.

 

"They said my lifestyle has changed - I've become a Christian, I've left the Islamic way of life," said Yusuf, who did not specify the nature of his relationship with the people who sent him to the centre.

 

As news of the raid spread, some relatives gathered near the compound, where a sign over the gate, topped with rolls of barbed wire, read: "Imam Ahmad Bun Hambal Centre for Islamic studies".

 

Hassan Mohammed, told Reuters he was the uncle of three of the freed children who had been sent to the school by their mother after their father died. He said he grew suspicious about what was going on after the family was denied access to them.

 

"I begged, they said no, we can't see these children until three months. When we went back home... we said the only thing now is we should report this issue to the police station, that is exactly what we did," said Mohammed.

 

The rescued children have been moved to a temporary camp at a stadium in Kaduna, and would later be moved to another camp in a suburb of the city while attempts were made to find their parents, police said.

 

SCHOOL SHUTDOWNS?

 

Islamic schools, known as Almajiris, are common across the mostly Muslim north of Nigeria - a country that is roughly evenly split between followers of Christianity and Islam.

 

Parents in northern Nigeria, the poorest part of a country in which most people live on less than $2 a day, often opt to leave their children to board at the schools.

 

Such schools have for years been dogged by allegations of abuse and accusations that some children have been forced to beg on the streets of cities in the north.

 

Earlier this year, the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, himself a Muslim, said it planned to eventually ban the schools, but would not do so immediately.

 

"Any necessary ban on Almajiri would follow due process and consultation with relevant authorities," said Buhari's spokesman Garba Shehu in a statement issued in June.

 

"The federal government wants a situation where every child of primary school age is in school rather than begging on the streets during school hours," the statement said.

 

A presidency spokesman did not immediately respond to calls and text messages seeking comment on the raid in Kaduna and whether it would alter the government's approach to such schools.

 

Professor Ishaq Akintola, director of the Nigerian human rights organisation the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), said around 10 million children across the north of the country are educated at Islamic schools.

 

"Those responsible for abuse, if found guilty, should be held accountable but these schools should continue because shutting them down would deprive so many students of an education," he said.

 

Akintola said Islamic schools needed funding to train teachers and improve the buildings.

 

(Reporting by Garba Muhammad and Bosun Yakusak; Additional reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram in Lagos and Felix Onuah in Abuja; Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Alex Richardson)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-09-28

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[jastheace]

no, this is fake news, slavery never happened / or existed in Africa. it is white man invention, take Africa people away from Africa. that is what afro carib people want compensation for. never have slavery in Africa, not have now, no no sirrey

[jastheace]

but this is good news yes, defo, problem gone, no

 

 

[Tug]

Animals I’d like to hurt the perpetrators real real bad fo a very long time

[steven100]

these are the type of fanatics that hurt a religion through their distorted repressive ways.

not all muslims act in such a manner.  

these scum should be punished severely …….  jail for years.

[Basil B]

Dozens... I would say that was a bit of an under estimate, the above says

2 hours ago, rooster59 said:

More than 300 boys and men

BBC quotes

Quote

Nearly 500 men and boys have been rescued from a building in the northern city of Kaduna, where the detainees were allegedly sexually abused and tortured, Nigerian police said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-49850408

 

[Mick501]

Another gem from the religion of peace that brings us 16000 terrorist attacks each year.

[Soundspeed]

"When men believe in absurdities they can commit atrocities." Voltaire

[Burma Bill]

4 hours ago, steven100 said:

these are the type of fanatics that hurt a religion through their distorted repressive ways.

not all muslims act in such a manner.  

these scum should be punished severely …….  jail for years.

Quote:-

these scum should be punished severely …….  jail for years ...... or even stoned to death (Sharia Law)

•  

[JimmyTheMook]

Muslim men & young boyz - gonna happen 

 

just like:

 

#Chicken Night in Turkey

[lust]

Remove their pee-pees.. or their brain. I’m fine with either.

[Mick501]

3 hours ago, lust said:

Remove their pee-pees.. or their brain. I’m fine with either.

Pretty large chunk of the brain is removed when signing on to any religion/fairy tale.

[Kelsall]

Thank you for posting this.  We always hear about girls who are victims, but rarely about the boys who are victims.  Again, thanks.

[Matzzon]

12 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Islamic

Yep, that was the only thing I had to read to understand.

[lungbing]

11 hours ago, steven100 said:

these are the type of fanatics that hurt a religion through their distorted repressive ways.

not all muslims act in such a manner.  

these scum should be punished severely …….  jail for years.

Maybe not all Muslims act in this manner.  But until other Muslims come out and condemn this type of action I will continue to believe all Muslims agree with it.

[Pique Dard]

i'd like to remind every one that islam is a religion of peace and love! that school in nigeria was training kids as how to become good citizens. one can see the result in afghanistan, for instance

. i say it again, islam teaches peace and love

Edited September 29, 2019 by Pique Dard

[Stargeezr]

Wow, The Muslims must be happy with this news story, Africa, the dark continent, , especially Nigeria seems very dark and troubling in the north.  I have never believed the saying that Muslims have the religion of peace and love, even for the Muslim people. This story shows the truth of their Islamic schooling. Shameful..    I guess some will just say, oh well it happened in Africa. Which countries are fighting right now? How many are Muslim countries? ??

Geezer

[Sujo]

On 9/28/2019 at 8:36 PM, lungbing said:

Maybe not all Muslims act in this manner.  But until other Muslims come out and condemn this type of action I will continue to believe all Muslims agree with it.

Huh, did you read the OP?

 

if they agreed with it they wouldnt have found the boys would they.

 

did u miss the part where the govt, run by a muslim, will shut down the schools?

[Galactus]

On 9/28/2019 at 7:36 PM, lungbing said:

Maybe not all Muslims act in this manner.  But until other Muslims come out and condemn this type of action I will continue to believe all Muslims agree with it.

so maybe muslims are waiting for christians to condemn the actions of priest and cardinals raping and abusing children in the churches for 2 millenniums and recently in our modern age.

anyway, such muslim schools are just pushing people to darnkness. and same can be said for christian or jewish schools too.

so, please dont act like such things only happen in muslim schools. all religions are the same s...t. pinnacle of darkness.

if you belie like all muslim agree (which is a total nonsense generalization almost racist) with this then you also agree for the mass rapes in the churches? have you ever condemned this?

 

Edited September 30, 2019 by Galactus

[KhunFred]

Absolutely disgusting. Where's the official outrage from the USA, which spent billions on a cold war with Communism, which was comparatively humane, after the Stalin era?

Edited September 30, 2019 by KhunFred

[White Christmas13]

On 9/28/2019 at 6:36 AM, jastheace said:

no, this is fake news, slavery never happened / or existed in Africa. it is white man invention, take Africa people away from Africa. that is what afro carib people want compensation for. never have slavery in Africa, not have now, no no sirrey

What are you drinking?

[White Christmas13]

On 9/28/2019 at 1:30 PM, Mick501 said:

Another gem from the religion of peace that brings us 16000 terrorist attacks each year.

Link

[wisperone]

On 9/30/2019 at 12:11 AM, Sujo said:

did u miss the part where the govt, run by a muslim, will shut down the schools?

Yeah..and there will be no pollution in Chaing Mai next spring.

[Bluespunk]

On 9/28/2019 at 3:36 PM, lungbing said:

Maybe not all Muslims act in this manner.  But until other Muslims come out and condemn this type of action I will continue to believe all Muslims agree with it.

Absolute nonsense.  

[sunnyboy2018]

On 9/28/2019 at 2:07 AM, steven100 said:

these are the type of fanatics that hurt a religion through their distorted repressive ways.

not all muslims act in such a manner.  

these scum should be punished severely …….  jail for years.

Muslim Arabs were the original slave traders. Slavery was only abolished in the Middle East in the 60s.