Police in northern
Nigeria have freed 67 people who had been found shackled at an Islamic boarding
school.
The pupils, between
the ages of seven and 40, told police they had been tortured and abused.
Last month, more than
300 male students were freed from a similar boarding school in neighbouring
Kaduna state.
Islamic boarding
schools, known as Almajiris, are common across the mostly-Muslim north of
Nigeria.
In a statement
released on Monday, police said the boys and men were chained and subjected to
“inhuman and degrading treatments”.
Two teachers as well
as the owner of the school, which is in Daura, the birthplace of President
Muhammadu Buhari, have been arrested.
More than 300 pupils were enrolled but most had escaped before the police arrived.
The captives had been
rioting and many had got out with their shackles still on.
The school operated
for decades as a place for Koranic instruction and worked with some pupils who
were deemed to have behavioural problems.
There have been
numerous reports of abuse at Islamic boarding schools across northern Nigeria,
with students sometimes forced to spend their days begging on the streets.