Rigasa Islamic School: Mothers protest rescue of 300 boys

Mothers of the 300 boys Kaduna police rescued Thursday from rehab under a Rigasa Islamic school where they were allegedly chained, tortured and sexually assaulted in Kaduna are protesting now.

The women supported the owners of the school and their methods, and asked the police to release their children immediately.

They also said the allegation by the police that the children were being sexually abused at the Islamic school was false.

According to the police, some of the victims were from Burkina Faso, Mali and other African countries, adding that the students confessed to have been abused sexually.

“The man who is 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 their children to this place,” the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Ali Janga, had said during the raid.

Some of the boys and men, in chains, were said to have been held captive for years inside the facility.

Some of them, a victim disclosed, have died.

The police arrested seven teachers of the Islamic centre, including its proprietor, Mallam Ismaila Abubakar, who insisted all they did at the centre was the teaching of Islam.