Detectives from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Oyo State Police Command have discovered an illegal detention camp in Ibadan.
At the camp, allegedly being run by an Islamic cleric Alfa Ganiyu Imoniyi Olaniyi, detainees were subjected to series of inhuman treatments like torture, hard labour and rape.
The detainees, who were brought to the illegal detention centre at Jagun compound of Ile-Tuntun area of Ibadan by their relatives for reformation, were found chained. They were set free by the police.
Parading Alfa Ganiyu and the 23 freed detainees, the Assistant Inspector General of Police Udom Ekpoudom said it was sad that such an illegal detention camp could still exist in a civilised society like Ibadan.
Nine of the parents of the freed detainees were also arrested by the police for taking their children to the place.
But Ganiyu said he was operating the camp to reform those children that were giving their family problems.
The police boss said his men stormed the camp based on information from one of the people who had passed through the system.
Ekpoudom said on getting to the place his men from the state CID discovered that there were many youths who have been detained for many years illegally.
He said the detainees were subjected to torture by the Alfa, during which, some of them had died.
The Oyo police boss also said after subjecting the female captives to forced sex, Ganiyu also went ahead to shave their private parts for spiritual purposes.
Ekpoudom said as a result of this act all the female captives mainly youths from ages 13 to 20 have stopped menstruating.
Source: The Daily Trust