President Muhammadu Buhari has said that he will not support criminality under any guise, including the abduction of children and selling them off illegally.
He commended the police for its recent discoveries of fake correctional centres in Kaduna and Katsina, and a child-theft racket in Kano states.
In a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media & Publicity, Garba Shehu, President Buhari noted that such arrests are in line with his commitment to human rights and dignity of the citizens regardless of their age, religion and ethnicity.
President Buhari was quoted saying that “no responsible democratic government would tolerate the existence of the torture chambers, and physical abuses of inmates in the name of rehabilitation of the victims.”
He called for more vigilance from the general public and assist security agencies in crime prevention and control by reporting the existence of criminal activities around their communities.
The police in Kaduna state raided another illegal rehabilitation centre in the Rigasa area of Kaduna State, rescuing about 147 victims with some of them in chains.
The raid which was carried out in the presence of the state governor, Mr Nasir El-Rufai, is the second within the space of one month in the state.
The first had 300 victims, including children and adults, rescued and are from Burkina Faso, Mali and other African countries.
There were also claims that some of the children had been sexually abused.
Meanwhile, in the Sabon Garin Daura area of Katsina state, another centre, owned by a famous and respected Islamic scholar, Bello Mai Almajirai. The place was also shutdown.