The Death Of 37 Suspected Illegal Miners In The NSCDC Custody And The Tragedy Of A Nation That Have Embraced The Abnormal As A Way Of Life -By Hajia Hadiza Mohammed

Violence, tragedy and death have become everyday occurrence in Nigeria since the coming of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Regime and worse in the current administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu. And the most disturbing thing is that the Nigerian people seem to have adjusted to it and accepted this aberration as normal. Nigeria has never had it so bad, not even during the era of the military juntas.

On Thursday, September 17, thirty-seven young men, many of them children and teenagers, died in Minna the Niger State capital in the custody of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC) in a very bizarre and suspicious circumstances. The victims were suspected illegal miners arrested by the operatives of the NSCDC during a recce operation carried out on September 15 and 16, 2026 around Borgu and M. I. Wushishi and Lukoto areas of Niger State.

The tragedy sparked off public outcry and condemnation, many demanding independent judicial inquiry, immediate autopsy to establish the cause of the deaths and justice for the deceased. In Minna, the incident sparked off a violent protest that led to vandalizing of public buildings, prompting the authorities to impose a 24-hour curfew and declare three days of mourning for the deceased. The people are still agitated as they await the investigation report and the action of the government. About a week ago tragedy struck again in the government House in Minna where some people were trampled to death in a stampede. It is said that the youths had planned another protest in solidarity with the fallen youths when the governor got wind of it and invited them to a parley after which it is said that money was shared to the youths and those that have come to partake in the palliatives.

The cause of the death was not immediately established but many suspected sabotage and food poisoning while some thought it was officially masterminded to silence the alleged illegal miners to stop them from revealing those they are working for. But the NSCDC initially attributed the tragedy to a sudden disease outbreak, but intelligence reports, survivor’s accounts, and local civil society groups stated that the victims actually died of suffocation due to extreme overcrowding and poor ventilation and extreme heat inside the detention facility. There is also the allegations that a substance or chemical was sprayed inside the cell, causing detainees to struggle for breath.

Following the public outrage, the federal government reacted through the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo by suspending Suberu Siyata Aniviye, the Niger State NSCDC Commandant and then the Nigerian Police Force took over the NSCDC detention facility and arrested and detained about 24 NSCDC officers in the State and launched a formal criminal investigation. Following a presidential order for a full-scale federal probe, a ten-man independent federal investigative committee chaired by Jonathan Kuri, a retired Deputy Director-General of the Department of State Services, was inaugurated on the September 22, 2026 with a two-week mandate to submit its report. The Niger State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, also established a separate judicial commission of inquiry led by Justice Muhammad Muhammad to investigate the tragic case.

The Jonathan Kuri panel has done the preliminary work of collecting forensic evidence, authorizing the conduct of the autopsies, inspecting the detention facilities as well as interviewing families and survivors. And their preliminary report submitted on October 7, 2026 indicates that the actions and methods used by NSCDC operatives during and after the arrest of the artisanal miners lacked basic professional standards as it was revealed that over 60 persons, many of whom were teenagers and children were crammed into a single, poorly ventilated, and tightly locked room while the officers on guard ignored the desperate cries for help by the inmates as narrated by the survivors. The panel has promised to submit its final report in two weeks’ time after obtaining the outstanding forensic materials and pathological reports that will establish the exact cause of the death, conclude interviews and offer a fair hearing to the NSCDC offers implicated in the incident.

The many cases of death of Nigerian citizens in protective custody has assumed a frightening dimension in this regime of the reign of impunity. Sometimes overzealous security officer will pull the trigger and kill an alleged offender without trial and nothing happens thereafter. It happens everywhere: in the police stations, on our highways, in the streets and sundry other places. Independent investigative reports from different human rights group show that hundreds of Nigerian people have died in protective security custody in the last three years. These deaths result from physical abuse and torture, negligence, corruption and sometimes they are deliberate. The most worrisome part of this is that we don’t get to hear that the offenders get punished for taken laws into their hands. The public will grumble for a few days and the matter fizzles out like wax melting in a heat.

Clearly, the many cases of custodial deaths in Nigeria shows total disregard for human lives, institutional failures, weak judicial system, endemic corruption and failure of governance. And most significantly, it shows a disorganized and complacent citizenry that do not know their rights; citizens that do not hold their leaders accountable for their actions, citizens suffering and celebrating their oppressors, ignorant and naive citizens that have accepted aberration as the norm.

In a saner and civilized environment, the death of these youths in this circumstance is more than enough to spark off nation-wide violent protest among the youths and more than enough to warrant the resignation of top security operatives. The leaders and political figures from Niger State have not given the matter the deserved attention because they are pre-occupied with the fruitless task of working to deliver the president that has failed the nation in all ramification. I am not in any way inciting or supporting violence but I don’t know when Nigeria youths will wake up from their slumber, shirk off the toga of religion and tribe and unite for the course of justice and fairness in this country. And until that is done, our oppressor will continue to have their way, playing the ethnic and religious cards.

Hajia Hadiza Mohammed
hajiahadizamohammed@gmail.com
An actress, social activist, politician
London, UK.