By The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps has opened an investigation after a group of suspected illegal miners died while in the Corps’ custody in Niger State, an incident that has raised urgent questions about detention conditions and prompted conflicting early explanations from within the agency itself.
The miners were arrested during coordinated enforcement operations carried out by the Niger State Command in the M.I. Wushishi and Lukoto axis on September 15 and 16, part of a broader push to clamp down on illegal mining in the state.
Reports that emerged afterward put the number of suspected miners feared dead at no fewer than 33, discovered in the early hours of Thursday after their detention at an NSCDC facility in Minna, though other accounts of the incident have cited a higher figure closer to 40. The exact death toll had not been definitively confirmed by NSCDC at the time of this report.
Niger State Commandant Suberu Aniviye initially attributed the deaths to what he described as a suspected disease outbreak.
NSCDC’s National Headquarters, however, was quick to push back on that explanation, stating that the actual cause of death remains undetermined and that any reports pointing to a specific disease still require confirmation through proper medical and laboratory testing.
The Investigation
In a statement issued Thursday, National Public Relations Officer Babawale Afolabi said Commandant General Ahmed Abubakar Audi had ordered the formation of a high-powered investigative team, to be led by the Deputy Commandant General in charge of Intelligence and Investigation, tasked with getting to the bottom of what happened.
According to Afolabi, the inquiry will examine the condition the suspects were in at the time of arrest, how long they spent in custody, the conditions under which they were detained, what medical attention, if any, they received, and any other relevant factors surrounding the deaths.
Audi has also ordered that the health and welfare of everyone currently still in custody be treated as an immediate priority, alongside steps to protect Corps personnel who may have had contact with the affected detainees.
NSCDC’s Response
The Corps extended condolences to the families of those who died and pledged a thorough investigation that would lead to appropriate action once the facts are established. It was careful, though, to draw a clear line under the disease-outbreak theory floated locally, stating plainly that such claims remain unconfirmed pending medical examination and that it would avoid speculating further until those results come in.
