One of the returnees, Shehu, said they were arrested while taking the new wife of a relation to him in Rivers.
“I was in the entourage of seven people who were taking a new bride to her husband who is a serving soldier in Rivers State. The other women detained were also in the escort as part of our tradition. We were all arrested, detained and returned. We tried to explain but they won’t listen. Imagine the experience of the girl who got detained for 13 days after her wedding”, he said.
Kamilu Nasiru, another returnee, said they were fed with moimoi once a day and were cramped into a single room, adding that most of them became sick because of the congestion.
Ibrahim Musa said most of them did not pray for 13 days, adding that they were given biscuits and water during interrogation. The Chief of Staff to Governor Sule Lamido, Malam Aminu Ringim, who received the returnees, said the government worked round the clock to secure their release. He added that it is wrong to politicise security issues. He said the state government would protect indigenes anywhere they may be.
How we were arrested, treated
A trader who was among those released Friday said while in detention they were given only one moimoi as daily meal. He said one of them who hails from Jigawa State already went mad.
“We are businessmen, I used to travel to Port Harcourt, some of us travel to Aba, Ekiti and Bayelsa. All the vehicles used took off on Saturday from Jigawa and came to Kano to pick the remaining passengers. We took off from NNPC Hotoro. We heard some people saying we travelled in a convoy of 36 vehicles. This is not true. What happened was, we arrived at a check point in Aba in two vehicles on 15th June. When we arrived we meet three vehicles. They started the arrest before 2:00am, some were arrested at 1:30am. They kept us until the number of vehicles reached 33 and they told us that we should exercise patience until 6:00am because of the security situation and we should not be allowed to proceed until morning, promising that they would release us by 6:00am.
“At 6:00am, instead, we started seeing more well armed soldiers with their combat vehicles. They surrounded us and started entering every vehicle, seizing our phones. They tortured passengers who first arrived at the barracks, but they did not beat us. They however collected all our belongings.”
He said on their first three days in detention; “They removed only eight females among us and put all the remaining 478 in one cell where we slept, urinating there. They never opened the cell until 5:00am when they served us one moimoi and a cup of water each which served as our daily meals.”
“We were sleeping in shifts because the cell could not accommodate us. We spent three days. They later brought a container for us to urinate in. There was a time we spent two days without even the moimoi, a situation many of us could not cope with. As I talk to you, there is one who is completely insane now. We are physically and mentally touched.”
How we were screened
“After immigration officials screened us, the SSS did their own. The SSS asked questions like which group do you belong to - Tijjaniya, Kadiriyya or Izala or Boko Haram sect?
“They had some experts who specialise in detecting people who once carried guns. They checked all our hands for that purpose but they could not find anyone among us who ever handled a gun. They collected account numbers, they collected my own. They have all our addresses,” he said.
A 31-year-old father of three said he is into sale and repair of wrist watches in Port Harcourt. Another said when they were released they were given some of their belongings.
“All of us were prevented from proceeding with the journey, as we were escorted to Lokoja and handed over to soldiers there. From there we were escorted to Abaji in Abuja and handed over to soldiers, and from there to soldiers in Zuba and Dakatsalle in Kano State. Out of the 10 vehicles, nine proceeded to Jigawa State”.
A source told our correspondent that when they arrived Jigawa they were all handed over to their local government chairmen.
Receiving them, Kano State Governor Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso donated N20,000 to each of the 29 victims who hail from his state. Kwankwaso advised them to look into some other businesses in the state despite the fact that the constitution gives them the right to go anywhere in the country to do business.
The released persons are from across the 13 local governments in the state with majority coming from Sumaila LGA. When they were arrested, the Kano State government sent delegates who were prevented from accessing them, making the governor to call for their immediate release or be taken to court.
Source: Daily Trust
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