Balaraba Isah, a female medical doctor, has shared the shocking details about how she was locked up in a cell with over 30 male detainees at a police station in Gwarimpa, Abuja.
Speaking in an interview with Brekete Family, a human rights radio program, Balaraba said that during her time in detention, she prayed with both the Muslim and Christian detainees. She said the Christians in the cell said they felt like GOD had sent her there for a reason. She said they told her that they were happy to have her with them because, for the first time, they felt a strong sense of GOD’s presence.
Balaraba stated that while she was in the cell, the detainees offered her food and water, but she refused to eat. She made it clear that she would rather starve than accept anything.
In Balaraba’s words: “Even the Christian men in the cell said maybe God brought me because of them, they were happy I was there. You can confirm this. They said they had never felt like God was with them until that night and they were happy I was there with them. You can investigate.”
Her fears allayed:
Speaking in an interview with Brekete Family, Balaraba said that while in custody, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) instructed some male detainees that once she was placed in their cell, they could do whatever they wanted with her. She said that the DPO was dressed in white that day.
Balaraba said that despite the DPO’s words, the men refused to harm her, saying she was like a sister to them. She described the cell as small and overcrowded, with more than 30 men inside. She said when she was released, she gave the detainees four thousand naira, which she took from her own transport money.
In her words: “The next thing DPO himself was telling those boys that if I enter there anything they want to do with me they should do with me. He was putting on white that day. I am sure some of the boys are still in that cell. But the boys said ‘this is our sister, we cannot hurt her’. When I was leaving the cell I gave the boys four thousand naira that I removed from my transport. There were more than 30 people in the small cell.”
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