Tears And Outrage As 37 Die In NSCDC Custody In Niger State

Grief and outrage erupted across Minna on Thursday after thirty-seven young men died while being held in the detention facility of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps [NSCDC].

The incident has triggered conflicting accounts, with the NSCDC attributing the deaths to a suspected disease outbreak, while families and survivors allege overcrowding, starvation and lack of ventilation.

Families: “He Only Went To Deliver Rice”

For families gathered outside the facility demanding the corpse of their loved ones, the tragedy is not a statistic but the loss of sons and brothers. Some of the accounts of the family members as reported by Zarar Bunu TV.

One mother in a red hijab, weeping as she spoke, said her son was not a miner but had only gone to deliver food.

“I swear by Almighty God, this boy only went to take food to his brothers at their workplace. They arrested him and threw him into the van. When we told them that the boy was only delivering food, they claimed we were lying. Ever since he was arrested on Tuesday, he was given nothing to eat until today, Thursday, when we were presented with his corpse,” she said.[rice]

Another woman in a purple hijab, who said she lost two sons, demanded the release of the bodies.

“All we want is for them to release the corpses of our children to us. Two of my sons are among those killed. What kind of injustice and heartlessness is this? How can poor, innocent youths be locked up until they die in the hands of security operatives? We demand justice, and we want them to release our children’s bodies so we can take them and bury them properly,” she said.

A community elder and family representative questioned how 37 people could die at the same time in detention.

“What we know for a fact is that this morning we woke up to the tragic news that our young men, who were arrested at the mining site, had died while in NSCDC custody. What boggles our minds is: how could 37 people die all at the exact same time inside a detention cell or facility? We are appealing to the government and leaders to step in and thoroughly investigate how this tragedy occurred,” he said.

Survivors: “No Food, No Water, No Air”

Testimonies from survivors align with an intelligence report seen by AFP which attributed the deaths to overcrowding and inadequate ventilation, not disease.

One survivor said the cell was severely overcrowded.

“We were locked inside, and the room was extremely cramped with absolutely no ventilation. We started telling them that it was too hot and that people were fainting, but they paid no attention to us. We were packed closely together; many started foaming at the mouth and collapsing. By morning, a huge number of us were already dead,” he said.

Another survivor said pleas for help went unanswered throughout the night.

“There was no food, no drinking water, and no ventilation coming into the room at all. So many people were packed together in a single room. When people started dying, we kept banging on the door and shouting, but nobody opened it for us until daybreak,” he said.

Official Response

Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago confirmed the incident at a press conference in Minna on Thursday morning.

“This morning we woke up to the news that about 37 persons died in the custody of the civil defence here in Minna. It’s so sad, it’s so tragic,” Bago said.

The governor declared three days of mourning, postponed the start of campaigns for elections scheduled for January, and announced a committee of inquiry which has already commenced work.

The Niger State Police Command, through spokesman Wasiu Abiodun, said the Commissioner of Police had ordered an immediate investigation into the deaths.

The NSCDC said it had rounded up scores of suspected illegal miners on Tuesday and Wednesday, but that scores were found dead early on September 17 following a suspected outbreak of disease.

A 40-second video circulating online showed bodies of young men, most appearing to be teenagers clad only in shorts, lying on the ground in the open as volunteers and veiled women tried to identify relatives.

The deaths sparked protests in Minna by miners and sympathisers, with reports of damaged vehicles.

Niger State, which is more than twice the size of Belgium, is rich in gold, tantalite, copper and lithium and attracts thousands of artisanal miners.