A defendant standing trial before the Minna High Court shocked the courtroom last week after recounting how he allegedly lost both eyes during torture by officers of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) of the Niger State Police Command.
Idris Mohammed told Justice Mikhail Abdullahi that he was already serving a jail term at the Minna Correctional Facility when plain-clothes operatives from the SCID allegedly took him to the state police headquarters in Minna.
Narrating his ordeal under cross-examination by his counsel, Olusegun Ogunbanwo, the defendant said he was subjected to severe torture in an attempt to force him to confess to an offense he claimed he did not commit.
According to him, he was handcuffed, his legs chained together, and suspended from the ceiling before being beaten by SCID operatives to compel him to admit involvement in the alleged crime.
Mohammed, who spoke through an interpreter from Nupe to English, told the court that despite the torture, he refused to confess to an offense he knew nothing about.
Court hears shocking testimony
“I was taken to prison by a Sharia Court in the Sabon Titi area of Tunga in Minna. While in prison for another offense, some plain-clothes operatives came to pick me up and took me to the SCID office, where I was subjected to severe torture. As a result of the torture, I lost both eyes,” he told the court.
Mohammed was led to the dock by another inmate who is also standing trial with him on a charge of culpable homicide punishable by death. He was arraigned alongside three other defendants in August 2015 by the Office of the Attorney General of Niger State over alleged culpable homicide.
Details of the case
The defendants were accused of causing the death of an unidentified person whose corpse was allegedly discovered in the Lapai Gbari area near Talba’s Farm in Minna in 2015. The four defendants have remained in custody at the Minna custodial facility for the past 11 years awaiting trial over the allegation, which they denied committing. They also claimed they did not know the deceased person.
During re-cross-examination, the defendants alleged that they were subjected to various forms of torture to force confessional statements from them. Following the proceedings, Justice Mikhail Abdullahi adjourned the matter until June 8, 2026, for further hearing.
