Nigeria suspends security commander after 37 miners die in custody in Niger State

Custody deaths in Minna

Nigerian authorities confirmed on Friday that 37 gold miners died in security custody in Niger State following their arrest earlier in the week. Officers from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) detained the miners during raids on Tuesday, 15 September, and Wednesday, 16 September, in the mineral-rich Wushishi-Lukoto area west of Minna. Detainees were held at an NSCDC facility in the state capital, where officers discovered dozens of bodies in the early morning hours of Thursday, 17 September. Hospital staff initially received 33 bodies before officials confirmed the total death toll reached 37, with several victims identified as teenagers.

Survivor accounts and conditions

While NSCDC officials initially attributed the fatalities to an unspecified disease outbreak, survivors and an intelligence report cited by the AFP attributed the deaths to severe overcrowding and suffocation. Survivors reported that security forces packed at least 65 detainees into a single, unventilated cell without adequate food or drinking water during extreme heat. Detainees banged on the metal cell doors for hours as conditions deteriorated, but guards refused to open them or provide medical assistance.

“When people started dying, we kept calling out to them, but they did not listen.”

According to 38-year-old survivor Dauda Shehu, who survived because he stood near a small opening by the door, desperately thirsty detainees drank their own urine before collapsing. Relatives of the detainees reported that guards refused to let families deliver food and demanded the equivalent of 75 dollars to secure releases. Twelve surviving miners received emergency medical treatment at a local hospital following the incident.

Street clashes and police response

News of the fatalities triggered demonstrations across Minna on Thursday night and throughout Friday. Hundreds of protesters, including informal miners, relatives of the deceased, and local youth, gathered near the NSCDC headquarters and along central transit routes to demand accountability. Demonstrators erected roadblocks, smashed transport buses, and attacked a local transport authority facility, while some groups attempted to set government buildings on fire. Security forces responded by deploying tear gas canisters and firing live rounds to disperse the crowds, prompting parents across Minna to withdraw their children from schools as tensions escalated.

Official inquiry and suspensions

The federal government and state authorities announced administrative measures on Friday to address the incident. The Minister of Interior suspended the Niger State NSCDC commandant, Suberu Siyaka Aniviye, pending the outcome of a full investigation into detention procedures at the facility. Niger State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago announced the formation of a formal investigative committee to examine the deaths, labeled the event tragic, and declared three days of state mourning. State officials also canceled a scheduled political rally for the governing party to allow the public to observe the mourning period.