By Rabiat Uthman
Every June 26, the world pauses to observe the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture – a day dedicated not only to remembering survivors but also to renewing the global commitment to end torture in all its forms.
Yet in Nigeria, where the Anti-Torture Act has existed for nearly a decade, the reality for many victims tells a different story.
SolaceBase findings show that while the law clearly prohibits torture and outlines protections for detainees, implementation remains weak, leaving many victims trapped between legal promises and lived experiences.
For some, torture leaves visible wounds. For others, the body remembers long after the bruises disappear.
On August 3, a businessman, Abba Usman, a Kano resident, left home expecting an ordinary day.
He was with a friend and his sales boy around Kofar Gadan Kaya when police officers intercepted them.
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Nearby, Sagir Hassan Usman was heading to work when events took an unexpected turn.
According to Sagir, officers suddenly grabbed him by the waist and pushed him into a vehicle already carrying several detainees.
Inside the vehicle, those arrested were allegedly ordered to hold onto one another while officers struck them.
By the time they arrived at the police station, both men said they sensed officers believed they had apprehended dangerous suspects.
“They treated us as if we wanted to overthrow the government,” one of them recalled.
The men maintained they had no idea why they were arrested and insisted that the Nigerian flags found in the vehicle did not belong to them.
What followed, according to their account, remains difficult for them to discuss.
Read Also:Suspect dies in police custody after alleged torture
They described being beaten repeatedly. One detainee, they said, was assaulted until he stopped crying. Others had their heads knocked against walls.
Eventually, they were moved into a crowded detention cell. The cell, they recalled, already held about seventy people.
There was little ventilation. No food, no drinking water, no functioning toilet.
The smell of urine filled the space.
Both men told SolaceBase they had never entered a police station before that day.
What remained with them after release, they said, was not only physical pain but disappointment, fear and emotional exhaustion.
What the law says
Nigeria’s Anti-Torture Act, signed into law in 2017, was designed to outlaw torture completely.
According to Usman Umar Fari, outgoing Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Kano Branch, the law defines torture broadly and goes beyond physical assault.
