67 Suspected Miners Were Detained Before 37 Died in NSCDC Custody, Niger Governor Says

Niger State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago has disclosed that 67 artisanal and suspected illegal miners were detained in a Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) cell before 37 of them died in custody.

The detainees were arrested during NSCDC operations around the M.I. Wushishi and Lukoto areas of Niger State on September 15 and 16 as part of an operation targeting suspected illegal mining activities.

Bago made the disclosure while addressing journalists in Minna on Friday as investigations continued into the deaths.

The governor said the exact cause of death had not been established, but identified two possibilities investigators were examining, including suffocation resulting from overcrowding and exposure to potentially hazardous substances at the mining site.

“The first one is that the office of the Niger State Civil Defence arrested 67 artisans and illegal miners and put them in their cell.

“So probably they died of suffocation. Probably the second one is exposure to certain poisons or poisoning substances on the field.”

Bago stressed that the possibilities being considered should not be treated as a final determination of what caused the deaths.

He said medical, forensic and biological experts had been deployed to collect samples that would assist the committee investigating the incident. He also called for the autopsies and other examinations to be expedited.

“It is very important to understand that responsible mining must be the way forward where miners will have to use protective gears and also a lot of advocacy by the ministry must be done and must be continuous where people don’t understand the danger and the consequences of mining.”

The governor said the death of 37 people was a serious matter that required urgent investigation into both the circumstances of the deaths and the conduct of the officers who made the arrests.

“Even at times of war, if you kill 37 people, is not a small number.”

Bago also disclosed that experts had been deployed to investigate the possibility of radiological exposure at the mining site.

The NSCDC had initially said some of the detainees were found dead in the early hours of September 17 following what its Niger State Command described as a suspected disease outbreak. The corps later stressed that the actual cause had not been established and that medical and laboratory examinations would be required.

The governor’s latest disclosure provides a new detail about the detention conditions, with 67 people reportedly held in the cell before 37 deaths were recorded.

Separately, reports from survivors have raised concerns about overcrowding and ventilation inside the facility. One survivor, Dauda Shehu, told journalists that detainees were packed into the cell and struggled to breathe. Those accounts are among the issues now being examined and have not, by themselves, established the official cause of death.

The deaths have prompted investigations at several levels.

The Niger State Government has established a committee of inquiry, while the NSCDC Commandant-General, Ahmed Abubakar Audi, ordered a separate investigation. The Niger State NSCDC Commandant, Suberu Siyaka Aniviye, and other senior officers were directed to step aside pending the investigation.

President Bola Tinubu has also ordered a full and transparent investigation, directing that any official found to have contributed to the deaths through action, abuse or negligence should be arrested and prosecuted where the evidence supports criminal responsibility.

The Federal Government has stressed that the investigation must establish the facts before conclusions are reached, while the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has also deployed a team to Niger State to investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

The deaths triggered protests in Minna, prompting Governor Bago to impose a 24-hour curfew across the state capital following reports of unrest and destruction of property.

For now, 37 deaths have been confirmed by the Niger State Government, while the scientific cause of the deaths remains under investigation. Authorities are expected to rely on autopsies, laboratory results, forensic examinations and evidence from the detention facility and mining site to establish what happened.