This archive report was first published on 27 September 2019.
Published on September 27, 2019, a Reuters report revealed the shocking discovery of over 300 boys and men, some as young as five, chained and bearing scars from beatings in a building in northern Nigeria.
Most of the freed captives seen by a Reuters reporter in the city of Kaduna were children, aged up to their late teens. Some were shackled with their ankles manacled, while others were chained by their legs to large metal wheels to prevent escape.
One boy, held by the hand by a police officer as he walked unsteadily, had sores visible on his back that appeared consistent with injuries inflicted by a whip.
According to police, some children had been brought from neighboring countries, including Burkina Faso, Mali, and Ghana, while local media reports suggested others had been left by their parents in what they believed to be an Islamic school or rehabilitation centre.
Kaduna state's police commissioner, Ali Janga, described the building as neither a rehab nor an Islamic school, stating, 'The children gathered here are from all over the country... some of them were even chained.'
He added, 'They were used, dehumanized, you can see it yourself.'
Seven people who claimed to be teachers at the school were arrested during the raid, and the state government is providing food to the children who are between the ages of five and above.
Reports carried by local media suggested the captives had been tortured, starved, and sexually abused, but Reuters was unable to confirm these details.
The children have been moved to a temporary camp at a stadium in Kaduna, and will later be relocated to another camp in a suburb of the city while attempts are made to find their parents.
Some parents who had already been contacted went to the scene to retrieve their children, with one parent telling Reuters, 'We did not know that they will be put to this kind of harsh condition.'
