Khalid Aminu, a man who was arrested while taking part in the #EndBadGovernance protests, has narrated his harrowing ordeal after he was detained and allegedly tortured by the Department of State Services (DSS) for over two months.
Aminu, an engineer, was one of several young demonstrators who took to the streets in early August to protest issues including hunger and perceived governance failures.
Appearing on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a Channels Television socio-political programme, Aminu detailed how DSS operatives allegedly subjected him to intense physical and psychological torture while held at the agency’s Kano office.
He noted that during his 60-day detention, he was cut off from any contact with his family, heightening their distress over his whereabouts and wellbeing.
The #EndBadGovernance protests, which gained traction across Nigeria, have led to several arrests in multiple states, with participants highlighting the country’s socio-economic challenges.
“They (DSS operatives) blocked all of us at the NEPA Roundabout and packed about 11 of us on the day three of the protests (August 3) and took us to their command,” he recalled slowly with a weak voice, his face still plastered with after-trauma of the episode, signs that he is still recovering from the “terrible” ordeal in the hands of the secret police.
He further stated, “They kept me in detention from August 3 to October 17. For the 68 days, I was in the custody of the DSS minus one week when we were taken to the correctional centre after we were taken to court in Kaduna.
“When we were in detention, they kept bringing in more and more people and the number accumulated to about 39 of us.”
He described his plight in the hands of the secret police as a “terrible” experience that he won’t wish to remember.
The protester said, “What I went through, what we went through was inhuman, I can’t even begin to tell you everything,” Aminu said.
“On the 3rd (of August), they arrested us at NEPA Roundabout. There and then they started beating us. Boots, kicks, and all that. Then they pushed all of us into their Hilux, some into their SUVs, and then we went down to the Command.
“When we got there, the first thing I received was a strong cane, like an armoured cable that they used. If I pull up my chest, you will see. They started beating me, I was flat down and they were blasting me with all forms of sticks, armoured cables, everything you can think of.
“Then they took me to a garden with a sharp grass carpet. They asked us to pull our shirts and asked us to lie down. They poured water on me while I lay on this sharp grass. They were beating me and told me to roll from one side to another. I rolled from one end to another with water on my body. All sorts of insects were on this grass. So, it was double penetration. It was terrible. That continued for about an hour.
“Then they asked us to crawl in a gutter and we came out and they asked us to be looking into the sun. we were there for another hour. It became different type of torture after that day. From what you eat, psychologically, you cannot be stable.”
Aminu and his colleagues were accused of unlawful assembly and for flying Russian flags but the #EndBadGovernance campaigner denied the allegation.“
There was nothing like the Russian flag in the first five days of the protests when we were arrested,” he said.
