A special police operation team coordinated from the Headquarters in Abuja yesterday clamped down on another Qur’anic and Rehabilitation centre in Katsina metropolis popularly known as “Makarantar Malam Niga”
Sources confided in our reporter that the owner of the school, Malam Salisu Hamisu, (Malam Niga) was whisked away alongside two of his aides to the Criminal Investigation Department of the state police command after the operation for interrogations.
When our reporter visited the Kofar Durbi area where the school was located, armed mobile police men had barricaded the area.
Another school, which is a few meters away, was also cordoned off as several residents thronged the nearby streets to catch a glimpse of what was happening.
Residents of the area said the school had been operating as a rehabilitation centre for “stubborn children” and providing Qur’anic learning for over 15 years.
Meanwhile, some leaders of the Ulama (Islamic scholars) yesterday met behind closed doors with the state commissioner of police, Sanusi Buba, over the incidents.
Sources told our reporter that the police commissioner informed the clerics of some of the ugly practices like torture and chaining of students being observed by security agents which necessitated the intervention of the security operatives.
Some of the scholars also visited the detained Malam Niga at the CID office.
When contacted, the spokesman of the State police command, SP Gambo Isah, declined to comment on the matter.
However, a top police officer privy to the case, who preferred anonymity, confirmed the arrest and detention of the clerics on the ground that the school was being operated in a similar manner like the one in Daura that was closed down at the weekend.
