Engineer Khalid Aminu Recounts Harrowing 60-Day Ordeal of Torture and Inhumane Treatment in DSS Detention Following #EndBadGovernance Protest Arrest

Engineer Khalid Aminu, one of 39 protesters arrested during August’s #EndBadGovernance demonstrations, has recounted his harrowing 60-day ordeal of torture and inhumane treatment at the hands of the Department of State Services (DSS).

He was arrested during the #EndBadGovernance protests in Kano alongside fellow protesters.

He narrated how the DSS operatives blocked their path at NEPA Roundabout, detained 11 protesters, and subjected them to brutal mistreatment. Throughout his 60-day ordeal, Aminu had no contact with his family, leaving him visibly traumatized. His story, featured on Channels Television’s Inside Sources, sheds light on the grim reality of Nigeria’s crackdown on dissent and the urgent need for change and the protection of human rights.

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“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.

“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.”

Describing as terrible the experience he went through at the hands of the DSS, the protester said, “What I went through, what we went through was inhuman, I can’t even begin to tell you everything.

“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.

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