The family of Salim Usman, a 24-year-old Islamic cleric in Kano, has accused the police of torturing him to death while in detention.
Usman, who served as an imam in Kuntau, a community in Gwale LGA, was allegedly arrested on Monday by operatives of the state criminal investigation department (CID) shortly after leading the Maghrib prayer.
He was reportedly linked to a theft case after a suspect, arrested last year for stealing a bag of flour, claimed Usman had purchased it.
According to Premium Times, CCTV footage captured two officers—one in uniform and armed, the other in plain clothes—assaulting Usman after his arrest. Witnesses said the beating continued in custody, ultimately leading to his death.
Residents who trailed him to the police station to question the arrest were also said to have been assaulted and tortured before being remanded.
Jamilu Haruna, a relative, disclosed that the cleric passed away the same day he was taken into custody.
“The police took his remains to the Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital as an unidentified person, but the hospital rejected the corpse,” Haruna said.
“The police subsequently took the corpse to 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.
“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.”
Efforts to reach Haruna Kiyawa, spokesperson of the Kano police command, were unsuccessful at the time of this report.