A PhD holder, who is one of those rescued from an Islamic rehabilitation Centre in northern Nigeria, explained that he was placed in there because his family believe he “became a Christian”.
Dr Hassan Yusuf, with a Ph.D in Energy Economics, said his family put him in the torturous Islamic rehabilitation centre in Kaduna and abandoned him there after he returned to Nigeria to visit them and they noticed he wasn’t raising his kids in the Islamic way.
“They say I became a Christian. Because I spent sixteen years in the UK, I married there. So, I go back to Nigeria to come and settle my family, and the extended family came and told these people (the Islamic rehabilitation centre) that I became a Christian and I was trying to convert my children to Christians.
“I just found myself here one night – one morning – about two years ago.
“Dr Yusuf said they are chained, starved and tortured in the centre. He added that he’s diabetic and they feed them only carbohydrates.
He also said their access to their loved ones was restricted and he lacked access to drugs for his diabetes.
He managed to survive thanks to the little kids who hang around and bring him something he “soaks and drinks”.
Speaking of his experience in the centre, he said he hasn’t experienced anything as horrible as life in the centre since he was in military school. He added that life in the rehabilitation centre is worse than life was in military school because he is now older and diabetic.
Another victim, an MSc degree holder, also narrated his experience. He said he has no idea why his family put him in the centre.
