Niger miners’ death: Suspended NSCDC commandant arrested as full victim list released

Federal authorities have arrested and paraded the suspended Niger State Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Suberu Aniviye, alongside 23 officers, following the deaths of 37 suspected artisanal miners in government custody.

The development came as the government released the names and ages of all 37 deceased victims, confirming that several teenagers as young as 15 were among those who died inside an unventilated holding cell in Minna, the Niger State capital.

Speaking during a press briefing at the NSCDC national headquarters in Abuja, the Corps public relations officer, Babawale Afolabi, confirmed that Aniviye and other officials were taken into custody after preliminary internal findings established severe administrative failure, illegal detention procedures, and a breach of the chain of command.

He said Aniviye admitted during initial interrogations that he failed to notify the commandant-general of the NSCDC, Ahmed Audi, before carrying out the enforcement raids on September 15 and 16 or locking over 65 suspects into a single holding facility.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior said the federal government will enforce strict criminal accountability.

“The suspended State Commandant and 23 personnel who supervised the raids and guarded the detention facility have been formally taken into custody,” the ministry said. “They are being processed for prosecution depending on the findings of the independent panel.”

Young victims

The release of the victim roster has heightened public outrage across Niger state, exposing the youth demographic of the informal miners caught in the government crackdown.

Among the confirmed dead are 15-year-old Yusuf Ibrahim, 17-year-old Suleiman Husseini, and several young men in their early twenties who worked in informal gold pits near the M.I. Wushishi Estate and Lukoto areas to support their impoverished households.

A bereaved mother, Shafa’atu Suleiman, who lost her son in the cell, recounted her attempts to see him before his death.

“I went to their office to give my son food, but the officers refused us entry and demanded ₦100,000 before they would release him,” Shafa’atu alleged outside Minna General Hospital. “The next morning, I returned only to see ambulances carrying their corpses out. This is a clear injustice, and we will not forgive them.”

Husseini, father to 17-year-old Suleiman, strongly disputed initial agency claims that the boys died of an abrupt disease or simple heat exhaustion.

“When we removed the bodies from the ambulances, we saw things that were not normal,” Husseini said. “Some bodies had peeling skin, foam around the mouth, and blood coming from their mouths and ears. Saying it was just heat is an insult to our collective intelligence.”

Survivor allegations

The arrests follow alarming survivor accounts alleging that guards sprayed an unidentified chemical substance into the cell prior to the mass fatalities.

Dauda Shehu, one of the few surviving miners receiving treatment at Minna General Hospital, described the desperate moments before his cellmates collapsed.

“We were jam-packed in the cell, over 65 of us with no ventilation to breathe,” Shehu recalled. “They sprayed something inside the cell, and the smell disturbed everyone instantly. People started coughing, suffocating, and collapsing one after another. We banged on the door and screamed for help, but nobody opened it until they were dead.”

In response to the mounting national outcry, the federal government has inaugurated a 10-member independent investigative committee headed by retired Department of State Services (DSS) Deputy Director-General, Jonathan Kure. The panel includes senior legal practitioners, medical pathologists, human rights advocates, and representatives from the Minna Emirate Council.

The committee has been given a mandate to conduct forensic autopsies, examine the detention facility, and present a comprehensive report to President Bola Tinubu to ensure all culpable personnel face criminal prosecution in court.