Tinubu orders Probe after 37 suspected miners die in NSCDC custody

Nigeria's President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered an immediate investigation after 37 suspected illegal miners died while in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Niger State.

The men were among 67 people reportedly arrested during enforcement operations in the M.I. Wushishi and Lukoto areas of Minna on 15 and 16 September.

By the early hours of 17 September, 37 of those detained had died.

The deaths have raised questions about the conditions in which the men were held and what happened between their arrest and their deaths.

President Tinubu said the circumstances must be established and that any officials found responsible for wrongdoing should face the law.

"The life of every Nigerian matters," he said in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.

He said that being suspected of illegal mining did not remove the detainees' rights to life, dignity and humane treatment.

Cause of deaths remains unclear

The cause of the deaths has not yet been established.

The NSCDC initially suggested that the detainees may have been affected by a disease outbreak, but the agency later said that no definitive cause had been determined and that medical and laboratory examinations were under way.

Niger State Governor Mohammed Bago said overcrowding could have contributed to the deaths, while also raising the possibility that some detainees had been exposed to poisonous substances at mining sites.

"Probably they died of suffocation," Mr Bago told journalists in Minna.

His comments have not been confirmed by medical or forensic findings.

Authorities have deployed medical, forensic and biological experts to collect samples and investigate the deaths. Autopsies are expected to help establish what caused the fatalities.

Investigators are also examining whether there could have been radiological exposure associated with mining activities in the area.

Commandant suspended

The federal government has suspended the Niger State NSCDC commandant, Suberu Siyaka Aniviye, while the investigation continues.

President Tinubu has directed the Ministry of Interior and NSCDC authorities to give investigators full access and to ensure that no officer interferes with the process.

The investigation is expected to examine the arrests, the physical condition of the detainees when they were taken into custody, the conditions at the detention facility, the number of people held there and the medical care they received.

The President said that suspending officials would not be sufficient if evidence of criminal responsibility emerged.

Any official whose actions, abuse or negligence are found to have contributed to the deaths should, he said, be arrested and prosecuted in accordance with Nigerian law.

Protests and calls for answers

The deaths have triggered protests in Minna, with growing demands for an explanation of how so many people died after being taken into government custody.

The authorities have appealed for calm while the investigation proceeds.

The incident comes as Nigeria steps up efforts to combat illegal mining, which authorities have linked to environmental damage and other criminal activity.

President Tinubu said the government would continue enforcing laws against illegal mining, but insisted that security operations must themselves comply with the law.

"We must never allow the pursuit of one form of illegality to create another," he said. "The government must enforce the law firmly, but it must also obey the law."

For now, the central question remains unanswered: what caused the deaths of the 37 detainees?

The autopsies, laboratory examinations and wider investigation are expected to determine whether the deaths resulted from illness, overcrowding, exposure to hazardous substances, conditions in custody, or other factors.