The Authority for National Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse-NACADA has distanced itself from inhumane acts at Darushifa and Mustaqim rehabilitation centres saying that Darushifa is not a registered facility and must be shut down.
In a statement to newsrooms on Monday and signed by the public agency’s CEO Victor Okioma, NACADA said that it was against human rights and the law for Darushifa to subject drug users into such painful and inhumane acts and it must be disintegrated.
Okioma said that locals should not take their patients into such facility as the agency did not recognise it, and added that NACADA will not tolerate such abuse to patients.
Okioma stated that Darushifa was in total violation of human rights and was not in the list of accredited institutions that should offer substance use disorder treatment in the country.
NACADA has already rescued a total of 107 patients from torture and physical abuse and urged government relevant agencies to take immediate actions of shutting it down and punish all the culprits.
However, the statement does not mention Mustaqim rehabilitation centre which was revealed by the Jamal Osman’s BBC expose dubbed ‘Rehab nightmare’ which aired in the ‘African eye’ segment as a hell on earth.
Already anti-drug activists led by Reachout Centre Trust Executive Director Taib Abdulrahman have condemned the heinous act and gross violation of human rights and asked the government to shut down the two ‘Prisons’ purporting to be rehabilitation centres.
Taib said that the expose was very disturbing and that the government must not relent but pursue all the concerned parties and ensure that the two facilities do not operate.
“We are meeting other stakeholders to deliberate further on the same issue since it must be amicably resolved, it is totally unacceptable,” charged Mr. Taib.
