37 Dead: FG Suspends 20 NSCDC Officers Over Niger Mining Tragedy

The Federal Government has suspended 20 officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, alongside the Niger State Commandant, following the deaths of 37 suspected illegal miners in the Corps’ custody.

The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, announced the suspension on Saturday as the Federal Government stepped up its response to the deaths in Minna.

The government has also constituted a 10-member independent committee to investigate the incident.

The detainees died on Thursday, September 17, after they were arrested during enforcement operations against suspected illegal mining in the M.I. Wushishi and Lukoto areas of Niger State.

According to the Federal Government, the committee will establish the identities of the deceased and examine the circumstances surrounding their arrest and detention, including the cause of their deaths.

It will also determine whether there was any responsibility, complicity, negligence or misconduct, and recommend appropriate action and compensation where applicable.

20 officers suspended

The suspension goes beyond the Niger State Commandant, Suberu Aniviye, who had earlier been ordered to step aside. Reports posits that the 20 additional officers include personnel involved in the arrest and investigation of the suspects, station guards, intelligence and investigation officers, legal personnel and officers assigned to guard duty.

The government said the officers will remain suspended pending the outcome of the independent investigation.

The move followed President Bola Tinubu’s directive for a comprehensive, transparent and unhindered investigation into the deaths.

The President has also said that the fact that the detainees were suspected of illegal mining did not remove their right to life, dignity and humane treatment while in government custody.

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What caused the deaths?

The cause of death remains unresolved. The NSCDC initially said the deaths could have been linked to a suspected disease outbreak, but its national headquarters later stressed that no specific cause had been established and that medical and laboratory examinations were required.

Survivors have given a different account. One survivor, Dauda Shehu, said detainees were crammed into a poorly ventilated cell and struggled to breathe before some began collapsing.

Another survivor alleged that a substance resembling perfume was sprayed inside the overcrowded cell.

Those accounts have not been established as the official cause of death.

Niger State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago has also warned against premature conclusions. He said some bodies reportedly had blood and froth around their mouths, while some had burns, adding that the deaths could involve suffocation or poisoning but that investigations and autopsies would have to establish the truth.

A tragedy now under several investigations

The Federal Government’s panel is not the only body examining the incident.

The Niger State Government has opened its own inquiry, while the NSCDC, police and other security authorities are also investigating different aspects of the tragedy.

The deaths triggered protests in Minna, leading the Niger State Government to impose a 24-hour curfew as tensions rose.

The government has also suspended mining activities at the affected site while investigations continue.

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has separately deployed a high-powered team to Niger State to investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths and establish the facts.

ValidViewNetwork reports that the central questions are now straightforward but serious: why were so many suspects held together, what happened inside the detention facility, why did 37 people die, and did any officer or institution fail in its duty of care?

The suspension of the officers is an administrative measure. It does not, by itself, establish criminal responsibility.

The independent investigation and forensic examinations must now determine what happened and whether anyone should face disciplinary or criminal sanctions.

For the families of the 37 deceased, however, the demand remains the same: they want to know how their relatives entered government custody alive and ended up dead.