Abuja explosion survivor needs rehabilitation not detention – Rights group

The Human Rights Network in Nigeria, an organisation advocating for justice, has said the survivor of the Abuja school explosion, Abba Saidu, urgently needs rehabilitation and not detention.

The survivor had undergone surgery at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital in Gwagwalada, from where he was reportedly arrested immediately after he was discharged.

Abuja Metro reports that two people lost their lives in a blast that occurred on January 6 at the Modern Almajiri Tsangaya school, located in Kuchibuyi community, Kubwa in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

SPONSOR AD

Saidu, along with another survivor, Fauziyya Ilyasu, were rushed to the Kubwa General Hospital in Abuja following the incident. While Fauziya was treated and discharged, Saidu was referred to the Abuja University Teaching Hospital in Gwagwalada, due to the severity of his injuries. He was arrested by the police immediately after his discharge from the facility.

Reacting to the arrest, the leader of the human rights organization in the FCT, Comrade Nura Muktar, faulted the police action, noting that detaining the survivor at such critical moment may lead to permanent disability both physical and psychological.

The activist said he visited the victim at the FCT Anti-Kidnapping detention facility in Abuja on Tuesday, following a complaint filed by his relatives to his organisation.

He said, “I met him on Tuesday and from his movement, the boy needed to be handled with more care so that his veins would return to their normal shape, and only post-surgery care could provide that, not detention.”

He said efforts were on to meet the school’s proprietor, Adamu Hashimu, who was arrested on the day of the incident and reportedly detained at the former SARS headquarters in Abuja.

“I learnt that the police would arraign the almajiri teacher before a Federal High Court in Abuja, over allegations of leaving the school before and after the incident, as well as child rights abuse.

“Based on the information I received, only the FCT minister has the power to grant the release of the bodies of two victims that lost their lives in the incident, let alone the two living survivors,’’ the activist stated.

The police had confirmed the arrest of Saidu but did not disclose what he was being held for.