Habibu Adamu, a Bauchi State resident whom the police and military have been illegally detaining since 2011, is set to regain his freedom as the military has sent him to a rehabilitation centre, three weeks after a story by FIJ.

Through Hope Behind Bars, a non-governmental organisation focused on closing the justice and re-offending gap, FIJ learnt of the military’s recent moves to free Adamu.

The NGO told FIJ they spoke with Adamu’s son, who confirmed the development.

“He has been sent to a rehabilitation centre in Gombe State,” they told FIJ.

“He was not transferred as at when the inmates who were together with his father in Niger State were taken.

READ MORE: Man Spends 13 Years Tossed Between Police and Military Detention Centres Despite Court Ordering His Release

“They are to rehabilitate them for a period of six months before releasing them.”

The NGO first brought Adamu’s incarceration to FIJ’a notice on October 29. Via an email, Hope Behind Bars detailed how military personnel in Bauchi State arrested Adamu on July 15, 2011, and accused him of terrorism financing, then transferred him to the now-defunct Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) office in Abuja for further investigation.

FIJ then spoke with Ustaz Sani, the lawyer representing Adamu. In a telephone interview with Sani on the same day, the lawyer said he wrote to IGP Kayode Egbetokun on April 22, detailing to him how the police flouted a court order.

“They never responded to the letter,” Sani told FIJ. “I even sent a reminder a month later, but never got any response.

“The last time Adamu’s family heard from him was about two months ago when his captors wanted to do his biometric verification. After that time, we have not been able to hear anything else.”

Sani said the federal high court in Abuja granted a favourable judgement on December 19, 2014, freeing his client, but the police had other plans. They handed Adamu back to the military, and he ended up in a detention facility at the 99 Air Combat Training Group, Kainji, Niger State.

After this interaction, FIJ reported the matter. Both the newspaper and the NGO sustained efforts to secure secure Adamu’s release, and going by his son’s revelation, the Bauchi-based businessman would leave the facility by May 2025.

Ojukwu is a reporter with FIJ in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.