Detainees at a Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) facility in Minna, Niger State, reportedly spent the early hours of Thursday knocking on the cell door and pleading with guards to let them out as unbearable heat and overcrowding made it difficult for them to breathe.
But the door was allegedly not opened in time.
By the time the situation deteriorated, some of the detainees had reportedly died, while others continued pleading with the guards to open the door.
SaharaReporters has gathered from multiple sources familiar with the incident that 37 suspected illegal miners eventually died after more than 60 people were reportedly packed into a room designed to accommodate about 10 people.
One NSCDC source told SaharaReporters that the trainees began knocking on the door during the night and repeatedly complained that they could not breathe
“They were knocking the door from inside in the midnight, they pleaded that they could not breathe and the door should be opened but the guards posted outside did not heed to them,” the source said.
The situation allegedly became even more desperate after some of the detainees died.
“When about three persons died, the suspects started pleading that people have died but the guards refused to open the door. Perhaps they felt they were lying and wanted to overpower them,” another source said.
According to sources, the extreme overcrowding and inadequate ventilation created suffocating conditions inside the facility.
“The arrests were not the problem but where they were kept. In fact, the place they kept them was only designed to take 10 persons and at most if it would be too populated, 20 persons but over 60 persons were dumped there,” a source said.
SaharaReporters gathered that the facility had a standard door rather than the burglary-proof doors commonly used for cells, meaning people outside could see what was happening inside.
The sources alleged that despite the detainees’ pleas for help, the door remained closed, with the situation eventually resulting in the deaths of 37 people.
They also alleged that the then Niger State Commandant of the NSCDC, Suberu Siyaka Aniviye, ordered that the suspects be kept at the facility and instructed guards not to open the door.
“The then Commandant gave an order to the guards that the door should not be opened and it was this negligence that led to the numerous deaths,” a source told SaharaReporters.
How The Suspects Were Arrested
SaharaReporters gathered that the operation that led to the arrest of more than 60 suspected illegal miners was conducted between last Tuesday and Wednesday, while the deaths occurred on Thursday.
More than 40 NSCDC officials reportedly participated in the operation, with some personnel from neighbouring states joining the Niger State Command.
“Some of those who were part of the operation were not even from within Niger State, some of them came from neighbouring states to support the activity but it was the Niger State Command that initiated it,” a source familiar with the operation told SaharaReporters.
The operation was reportedly triggered by complaints from residents living around the mining sites, who alleged that mining activities were disrupting their communities and, in some cases, taking place close to their homes and farms.
“The residents wrote to the NSCDC demanding action that the illegal miners were mining close to their houses and sometimes enter their estates to mine. Those who own farms also lamented; that was why the operation was carried out,” another authoritative source familiar with the developments told SaharaReporters.
It was also gathered that the Niger State Government was not aware that the operation was going to take place, as the decision was reportedly made administratively by the NSCDC command to remove suspected miners from the areas that were raided.
According to the sources, the first group of suspects was brought to the NSCDC facility on Tuesday, while another group was brought in on Wednesday.
“They brought in some persons on Tuesday and other sets were brought in on Wednesday. In total they numbered over 60,” another source said.
‘They Drank Their Own Urine’
The account of what happened inside the facility is consistent with an earlier SaharaReporters report in which a survivor described the conditions as a desperate struggle for survival.
The survivor, identified as Dauda Shehu, said 66 people were detained together, while only six were subsequently taken to hospital after several of their colleagues died.
Shehu said the detainees repeatedly pleaded with NSCDC officers to open the cell because of the unbearable heat and overcrowding, but their pleas were ignored.
He also said some detainees became so dehydrated by the extreme heat that they resorted to drinking their own urine in an attempt to survive
The survivor also recounted how the miners had been operating before their arrest.
Suspensions Follow Deaths
The deaths have led to the suspension of several NSCDC officials.
Sources, however, said some of those suspended were not directly involved in the operation that led to the arrests. They were reportedly blamed for failing to intervene or prevail on the then commandant to take measures that could have prevented the deaths.
“Some of the officials in the legal unit for instance were not even a part of the operation but the argument for their suspension is that they ought to give that Commandant legal advice against holding those suspects for more than 24 hours,” a source said.
“If you give him advise and he doesn’t listen, then you will have it on record. Some persons even in operations unit sat back in the office instead of being in the forefront of the arrests and ensuring all went well.”
The allegations raise questions about whether the deaths could have been prevented if the detainees’ pleas for air and the overcrowded conditions had been addressed earlier.
SaharaReporters’ attempts to obtain comments from Aniviye, the now-suspended NSCDC commandant, were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report. He did not respond to messages sent to his official line, while phone calls were not answered.
(SaharaReporters)
