A survivor of the Nigerian "torture house" raided by police has described being there as "living in hellfire".
"If you are praying they will beat you. If you are studying they will beat you," Isa Ibrahim, 29, told the BBC.
Nearly 500 men and boys were rescued from the building in Kaduna, which was being used as an Islamic school and correctional facility.
The police said it was a place of human slavery, with many detainees found in chains.
Some of the victims had been tortured and sexually abused, the authorities say.
The BBC's Ishaq Khalid, who visited the building in northern Nigeria, says there are concerns that similar abuse may be occurring in other such institutions.
Many families in this mainly Muslim part of the country can't afford to send their children to school and those that can often enrol them in poorly regulated institutions like this one, he says.
A sign on the front of the building describes it as the Ahmad bin Hambal Centre for Islamic teachings but it was also used by some as a place to reform young men with behavioural problems.
Kaduna state police spokesman Yakubu Sabo said the "dehumanised treatment" they discovered made it impossible to consider it an Islamic school, Reuters news agency reports. It was not registered as either a school, or a correctional facility, although it did charge fees to parents.
Seven people, including some staff, have been arrested. The government says it will investigate other institutions which purport to provide Koranic studies.
There have been numerous reports of abuse at Koranic schools across northern Nigeria, with students sometimes forced to spend their days begging on the streets.
Isa Ibrahim's ordeal
Mr Ibrahim said he was sent to the centre two weeks ago by his family, apparently to "correct his behaviour".
He said he had tried to escape the day before the police arrived.
He described being chained up to an old generator and also being subjected to a particularly cruel punishment, known as "Tarkila", where his hands were tied up and he was left hanging from the ceiling.
"I have many injuries. Almost all parts of my body have injuries," he said. "Even if you are sleeping - they'll use [a] cane to wake you up."
He said he had been starved and was only given plain rice to eat. People kept at the centre "lose all of our energy", he added.
Children as young as five were among those rescued from the institution, which is believed to have been operating for several years. Most of the inmates were from northern Nigeria but two were reportedly from Burkina Faso.
Abandoned chains at a 'house of torture'
Ishaq Khalid, BBC News, Kaduna
The pink two-storey building is a prison-like structure surrounded by high walls and barbed wire. It has an imposing gate, with more than a dozen rooms, with small windows for ventilation.
When I visited, the compound was littered with abandoned household items like mattresses, buckets, clothes and books - apparently left in the wake of the police raid.
Kaduna state police spokesperson Yakubu Sabo told me most of the captives had been rescued with their shackles still on but I could still see some abandoned chains, as well as car wheels and petrol-powered generators to which the victims had allegedly been attached.
People living nearby have been left bewildered - some told me they couldn't believe the shocking discovery.
The "students" did not go to out to beg on the streets as is the usual practice with traditional Koranic schools in this region. Nor had they been forced to do hard labour - some said they had not seen the outside world for years.
Torture was used as a form of discipline - to correct perceived bad behaviour.
Relatives are being reunited with their children at a camp in Kaduna where the victims were taken after being rescued.
Some said they had been prevented from seeing their children at the school.
"If we had known that this thing was happening in the school, we wouldn't have sent our children. We sent them to be people but they ended up being maltreated," said a parent named Ibrahim, who had identified his son.
The Kaduna state government says it will now carry out checks on all Koranic schools across the state.
"This is an eye-opener for us," said Hafsat Baba, Kaduna State Commissioner of Human Services and Social Development. She added that if this scale of abuse was happening in the main city, she didn't know what might be going on in rural areas.
"We have to map all the schools. And we have to make sure that if they violate the government orders then they have to be closed down completely," she told the BBC.
"If we find any facility that is torturing children or is harbouring these kind of horrific situations that we have just seen, they are going to be prosecuted."
President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned reports of shocking abuse at the institution.
He also urged religious and traditional leaders to work with the authorities to "expose and stop all types of abuse that are widely known but ignored for many years by our communities".
BBC
Related story: Hundreds freed from torture house in Nigeria
Monday, September 30, 2019
Baby Factory raided by police in Nigeria
Nigerian police have freed 19 pregnant women from properties in Lagos, which they describe as "baby factories".
Most of the women had been abducted "for the purpose of getting them pregnant and selling the babies", a police statement said.
Two women who operated as untrained nurses have been arrested but the main suspect is on the run.
Police said that male babies would be sold for $1,400 (£1,100) and the females for $830.
They added that the children were to be trafficked, but it is not clear who or where the potential buyers were.
Stories of these so-called "baby factories" are not uncommon in Nigeria. There have been several raids in the past including one last year when 160 children were rescued.
This time four children were rescued.
What happened to the women?
The rescued women, aged between 15 and 28, had been lured to Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, from different parts of the country with the promise of employment.
But they were then held in the properties and raped.
"[A] woman came to pick me at the [bus] park and brought me here," one of those rescued told the Vanguard newspaper.
"The next day, I was summoned by our madam, who told me that I would not leave the premises until next year," she is quoted as saying.
"So far, I have slept with seven different men before I discovered I was pregnant. I was told that after delivery, I would be paid handsomely."
The women and children have now been rehoused and are being rehabilitated, the police said.
BBC
Related story: Pregnant girls rescued from baby making factory in Nigeria
Most of the women had been abducted "for the purpose of getting them pregnant and selling the babies", a police statement said.
Two women who operated as untrained nurses have been arrested but the main suspect is on the run.
Police said that male babies would be sold for $1,400 (£1,100) and the females for $830.
They added that the children were to be trafficked, but it is not clear who or where the potential buyers were.
Stories of these so-called "baby factories" are not uncommon in Nigeria. There have been several raids in the past including one last year when 160 children were rescued.
This time four children were rescued.
What happened to the women?
The rescued women, aged between 15 and 28, had been lured to Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, from different parts of the country with the promise of employment.
But they were then held in the properties and raped.
"[A] woman came to pick me at the [bus] park and brought me here," one of those rescued told the Vanguard newspaper.
"The next day, I was summoned by our madam, who told me that I would not leave the premises until next year," she is quoted as saying.
"So far, I have slept with seven different men before I discovered I was pregnant. I was told that after delivery, I would be paid handsomely."
The women and children have now been rehoused and are being rehabilitated, the police said.
BBC
Related story: Pregnant girls rescued from baby making factory in Nigeria
Friday, September 27, 2019
Video - Nigeria to scale up capacity for China-assisted Kaduna railway line
Speaking of China-Africa cooperation, Nigeria is set to increase capacity of its China- Assisted railway service along the 186.5 KM Abuja - Kaduna Rail line. 16 additional coaches and 10 locomotives are expected in by the end of the year -- to add to the existing ones.This is spurred by rising demand in the service. As Kelechi Emekalam reports, Many more passengers are opting for rail transportation for reasons of safety and comfort.
Boko Haram camp destroyed in Nigeria by airstrikes
Airstrikes by the Nigerian military have destroyed a logistics base of terror group Boko Haram during a raid in the northeast region, defense authorities said on Thursday.
The logistics base also served as a training camp for the terrorists at a community called Kusuma on the fringes of Lake Chad.
The airstrikes on Wednesday were executed after credible intelligence reports had established that a section of the settlement was serving as a training camp for the terrorists, Ibikunle Daramola, the spokesman for the air force, said in a statement made available to Xinhua.
"Some buildings within the camp were being used to store their fuel, arms, and ammunition as well as other logistics supplies," Daramola said.
During pre-attack surveillance, the air force spokesman said, scores of Boko Haram fighters were seen attempting to flee the location upon hearing the sound of the attack aircraft.
"They were engaged by the attack aircraft in successive passes, neutralizing many of them," he said.
According to him, the terrorists' logistics supply store, which was also hit, was seen engulfed in flames due to the raid.
The air force said while operating in concert with surface forces, it would sustain its efforts to completely destroy all remnants of the terrorists in the troubled northeast region.
Boko Haram has been blamed for the death of more than 20,000 people and displacing of 2.3 million others in Nigeria since 2009.
Xinhua
The logistics base also served as a training camp for the terrorists at a community called Kusuma on the fringes of Lake Chad.
The airstrikes on Wednesday were executed after credible intelligence reports had established that a section of the settlement was serving as a training camp for the terrorists, Ibikunle Daramola, the spokesman for the air force, said in a statement made available to Xinhua.
"Some buildings within the camp were being used to store their fuel, arms, and ammunition as well as other logistics supplies," Daramola said.
During pre-attack surveillance, the air force spokesman said, scores of Boko Haram fighters were seen attempting to flee the location upon hearing the sound of the attack aircraft.
"They were engaged by the attack aircraft in successive passes, neutralizing many of them," he said.
According to him, the terrorists' logistics supply store, which was also hit, was seen engulfed in flames due to the raid.
The air force said while operating in concert with surface forces, it would sustain its efforts to completely destroy all remnants of the terrorists in the troubled northeast region.
Boko Haram has been blamed for the death of more than 20,000 people and displacing of 2.3 million others in Nigeria since 2009.
Xinhua
UK judge grants Nigeria appeal of $9bn asset forfeiture ruling
A British judge on Thursday gave Nigeria permission to seek to overturn a ruling that would have allowed a private firm to try to seize more than $9bn in assets from the West African country.
Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID), a firm set up to carry out a gas project with Nigeria, won a $6.6bn arbitration award after the deal collapsed. The award has been accruing interest since 2013 and is now worth more than $9bn.
P&ID, established by two Irish nationals with little experience in the oil and gas sector, said on Thursday that interest was accruing at a rate of $1.2m a day.
The judge also granted Nigeria's request for a stay on any asset seizures while its legal challenge is pending, but ordered it to pay $200m to the court within 60 days to ensure the stay. It also must pay some court costs to P&ID within 14 days.
The original August 16 decision converted an arbitration award held by P&ID to a legal judgment, which would allow the British Virgin Islands-based firm to try to seize international assets.
Nigeria's appeal of this decision, called a "set aside", would need to prove there was an error in that ruling.
During Thursday's proceedings, lawyers representing Nigeria said the judgment was flawed primarily due to its acceptance that England was the proper seat of the arbitration.
Harry Matovu argued on behalf of Nigeria that the courts, not the arbitration tribunal, should determine this and that the award itself was "manifestly excessive".
"We look forward to challenging the UK Commercial Court's recognition of the tribunal's decision in the UK Court of Appeal, uncovering P&ID's outrageous approach for what it is: a sham based on fraudulent and criminal activity developed to profit from a developing country," Nigerian attorney general Abubakar Malami said.
P&ID welcomed the requirement that Nigeria place $200m on hold pending the appeal, which it said will force the nation "to put its money where its mouth is if it wants to avoid immediate seizure of assets". It also called fraud allegations a "red herring".
"The Nigerian government knows there was no fraud and the allegations are merely political theatre designed to deflect attention from its own shortcomings," it said in a statement.
The judge's order said that if Nigeria does not put the $200m into a court account within 60 days - the minimum amount of time that Matovu said it would take Nigeria to raise the funds by tapping capital markets or seeking internal sources - the stay on seizures would be lifted.
The case has electrified Nigeria and drawn condemnation at every level of government. In a speech at the United Nations this week, President Muhammadu Buhari said he would fight "the P&ID scam attempting to cheat Nigeria of billions of dollars".
At the court on Thursday, a dozen senior government officials huddled during a break, discussing how much money Nigeria could place in court accounts to secure a hold on asset seizures.
Last week, Nigeria's anti-graft agency charged one former petroleum ministry official with accepting bribes and failing to follow protocol related to the contract, while two Nigerian men linked to P&ID pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and tax evasion on behalf of the company.
P&ID has called the investigation in Nigeria a "sham" that denied its subjects due process.
Al Jazeera
Related story: Nigeria defends currency reserves inspite $9bn UK court ruling
Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID), a firm set up to carry out a gas project with Nigeria, won a $6.6bn arbitration award after the deal collapsed. The award has been accruing interest since 2013 and is now worth more than $9bn.
P&ID, established by two Irish nationals with little experience in the oil and gas sector, said on Thursday that interest was accruing at a rate of $1.2m a day.
The judge also granted Nigeria's request for a stay on any asset seizures while its legal challenge is pending, but ordered it to pay $200m to the court within 60 days to ensure the stay. It also must pay some court costs to P&ID within 14 days.
The original August 16 decision converted an arbitration award held by P&ID to a legal judgment, which would allow the British Virgin Islands-based firm to try to seize international assets.
Nigeria's appeal of this decision, called a "set aside", would need to prove there was an error in that ruling.
During Thursday's proceedings, lawyers representing Nigeria said the judgment was flawed primarily due to its acceptance that England was the proper seat of the arbitration.
Harry Matovu argued on behalf of Nigeria that the courts, not the arbitration tribunal, should determine this and that the award itself was "manifestly excessive".
"We look forward to challenging the UK Commercial Court's recognition of the tribunal's decision in the UK Court of Appeal, uncovering P&ID's outrageous approach for what it is: a sham based on fraudulent and criminal activity developed to profit from a developing country," Nigerian attorney general Abubakar Malami said.
P&ID welcomed the requirement that Nigeria place $200m on hold pending the appeal, which it said will force the nation "to put its money where its mouth is if it wants to avoid immediate seizure of assets". It also called fraud allegations a "red herring".
"The Nigerian government knows there was no fraud and the allegations are merely political theatre designed to deflect attention from its own shortcomings," it said in a statement.
The judge's order said that if Nigeria does not put the $200m into a court account within 60 days - the minimum amount of time that Matovu said it would take Nigeria to raise the funds by tapping capital markets or seeking internal sources - the stay on seizures would be lifted.
The case has electrified Nigeria and drawn condemnation at every level of government. In a speech at the United Nations this week, President Muhammadu Buhari said he would fight "the P&ID scam attempting to cheat Nigeria of billions of dollars".
At the court on Thursday, a dozen senior government officials huddled during a break, discussing how much money Nigeria could place in court accounts to secure a hold on asset seizures.
Last week, Nigeria's anti-graft agency charged one former petroleum ministry official with accepting bribes and failing to follow protocol related to the contract, while two Nigerian men linked to P&ID pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and tax evasion on behalf of the company.
P&ID has called the investigation in Nigeria a "sham" that denied its subjects due process.
Al Jazeera
Related story: Nigeria defends currency reserves inspite $9bn UK court ruling
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