A nine-year-old boy who survived the detention of suspected illegal miners in Niger State has accused personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) of refusing to release detainees after their parents arrived to secure their bail.
The boy, Khalid, also recounted how he and other detainees allegedly struggled to survive after an unidentified substance was sprayed into their overcrowded cell where 37 suspected illegal miners later died.
Speaking exclusively to SaharaReporters with the consent of his parents, Khalid said he was arrested alongside other people at a mining site behind the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secretariat along M.I. Wushishi Housing Estate in Minna, Niger State.
He said the group initially fled when NSCDC personnel arrived at the mining site but were later intercepted around Tunga Junction.
“My name is Khalid, I’m nine years old. We were at the mining site behind PDP secretariat along M.I. Wushishi Housing Estate when NSCDC came and started arresting people. We ran away but they followed us to Tunga Junction and caught us. We saw some people inside their car,” he said.
According to the boy, the detainees spent a night in custody without their parents initially knowing about their arrest.
“We spent one night in custody; our parents didn’t know that we were arrested. When they got to know and they wanted to bail us, the security agents refused and didn’t give them access to us,” he alleged.
Khalid said the detainees were kept in a dark cell as more people were brought in, worsening the conditions inside the room.
He alleged that personnel later sprayed an unidentified substance into the cell through holes from outside.
“We were in the cell when they brought more people into the cell in a dark room. In the evening, they sprayed something in the cell. We don’t know what it was because it was dark, but we saw when they sprayed something through the holes in the cell from outside,” he said.
According to him, “after spraying it, some people started dying. Our body was itching, the heat became intense and it got to a stage where we started biting ourselves and colleagues.”
Khalid alleged that detainees repeatedly informed the security personnel that people were dying inside the cell but were allegedly ignored.
“We told them that people were dying and they said, ‘It is none of our business.’ We asked them to give us water to pour on the dying colleagues and to drink, and they refused,” he said.
He further alleged that the detainees begged officers to open the first of two doors leading into the cell to allow air into the room, but their pleas were rejected.
“We asked them to open the first door for us because it is two doors, but they refused. Some people died. They were biting each other,” he added.
The account comes amid an ongoing investigation into the deaths of 37 suspected illegal miners who died in NSCDC custody in Minna, Niger State.
The victims were among scores of people arrested during NSCDC operations against suspected illegal mining around the M.I. Wushishi and Lukoto areas of Minna on September 15 and 16, 2026.
Niger State Governor Umar Bago said 67 artisanal and suspected illegal miners had been detained in the NSCDC facility before 37 of them died. The NSCDC initially attributed the deaths to a suspected disease outbreak but subsequently said the actual cause had not been established and would be determined through medical and laboratory examinations.
The deaths triggered public outrage, protests and calls for an independent investigation.
President Bola Tinubu subsequently directed a comprehensive investigation, while Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo constituted a 10-member independent committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths. The NSCDC also suspended its Niger State Commandant and other officers linked to the incident.
The independent committee has since commenced its investigation and said it would visit relevant locations and interview survivors, suspects and other people with material knowledge of the incident.
Other survivors have also alleged that an unidentified substance was sprayed into the overcrowded cell shortly before detainees began collapsing.
However, the cause of the 37 deaths has not been publicly established, and there is currently no publicly established forensic evidence proving that the sprayed substance caused the deaths.
The ongoing inquiry is expected to establish what happened inside the detention facility, the cause of the deaths and whether any NSCDC personnel or other officials bear responsibility.
(SaharaReporters)
