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The Police Command in Katsina State has ordered the immediate closure of Malam Bello-mai’almajirai local reformatory centre in Daura, Katsina State.
The Commissioner of Police, Mr Sanusi Buba, who inspected the centre in company of journalists and other relevant stakeholders, ordered the closure in Daura on Monday.
He said that inmates were subjected to deplorable and dehumanising conditions at the centre.
Recall that 360 inmates at the centre escaped after breaking the burglary proof on Sunday.
The commissioner added that the condition of inmates called for urgent and serious concern, noting that the police would search the 34 local government areas in the state to unravel such centres.
He explained that some of the inmates were handcuffed and compelled to sleep in unventilated rooms.
“We would mount surveillance to fish out such culprits subjecting children to servitude,” he said.
He urged parents who took their children to the centre to come forward with valid means of identification to claim them, stressing that “no law in the country permits such inhuman treatment.”
The Emir of Daura, Alhaji Faruk Umar Faruk, called on the police and other relevant security agencies to carry out thorough investigation on the issue.
He urged the police to be fair and just in their investigation so that the culprits would face appropriate sanctions.
The emir who expressed shock at the discovery, said it was a surprise for such a thing to happen in his domain.
The centre was uncovered and shut down. It was housing some children who were said to have been treated inhumanely in the Sabon Garin Daura area of Katsina North.
The building was discovered after some of the boys who had escaped embarked on a protest over allegations of violation of human rights at the centre.
Owned by one of the most famous and respected Islamic scholars in Daura, Bello Mai Almajirai is said to house people perceived to be outlaws from their parents and the society, had been running the center for about 40 years and later left it in the hands of his son, Umar Bello.
The escapees, numbering over 200, ran into the town, narrating how they were being maltreated, a development that sparked outrage in the community against the owner.
According to him, each of the six rooms accommodates over 40 inmates who were subjected to all forms of dehumanising conditions including being chained.
