Family protests Kano imam's death in police custody

The family of an Islamic cleric in Kano State has protested his death in custody after being allegedly tortured by the police.

Salim Usman, an Imam in Kuntau, a community in the Gwale Local Government Area of the Kano metropolis, died in the custody of the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police on Monday.

A police team had arrested him at his residence in the Afforestation area of Kuntau at about 7 p.m. on Monday after he led the magrib prayer.

Officers allegedly said a man arrested for allegedly stealing a bag of flour last year named the 24-year-old cleric as the buyer of the flour.

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The CCTV footage seen by this newspaper shows the police beating Mr Usman after his arrest.

The footage shows two officers – one in uniform and armed, the other in plain clothes – beating him.

His neighbours said the beating continued in police custody, which led to his death.

They said Mr Usman was later remanded in police custody alongside other residents who challenged his arrest and followed him to the station. They said they were also beaten and tortured by the police.

According to a family member of the deceased, Jamilu Haruna, Mr Usman died in police custody the day he was arrested as a result of torture.

He said the incident had left many residents and members of his congregation in tears as he was killed for a crime he did not commit.

“The police took his remains to the Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital as an unidentified person, but the hospital rejected the corpse. The police subsequently took the corpse at another facility – Abdullahi Wase Hospital, where he was deposited in the mortuary.

“We (the family) had filed a complaint to the police authorities through our counsel, Adamu Abubakar, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). The police claimed that they have arrested some officers for unprofessional conduct and have commenced an investigation into the incident.

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“He was buried on Friday after an autopsy at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, and we paid N90,000 for the autopsy. He died on 22 September and was buried on 26 September after an autopsy was approved by the court and the police. We are expecting the autopsy result after four weeks”, Mr Haruna told PREMIUM TIMES.

When contacted, the police spokesperson in the state, Haruna Kiyawa, did not respond to calls and text message to comment on the incident.