Fawaz Adebodi
A survivor of the reported death of at least 37 suspected illegal miners in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Minna, Niger State, has recounted the harrowing conditions inside the detention facility, alleging that extreme heat and overcrowding left detainees fighting for their lives.
The survivor, identified as Dauda Shehu, said 66 detainees were crammed into a small cell where they allegedly struggled to breathe amid suffocating heat.
He said the detainees repeatedly pleaded with officers to open the cell, but their appeals were allegedly ignored until some of them became severely dehydrated.
The situation, according to the survivor, became so desperate that some detainees resorted to drinking their own urine to stay alive.
“The heat was terrible. I swear, the heat was unbearable. We were suffering because of the extreme heat,” another survivor recounted.
“The heat and sweating killed many of our people. I swear. The heat was so intense that even when you sat down, you would be drenched in sweat. There was sweat everywhere inside the cell. It got to a stage that we were drinking our urine.”
The reported deaths followed the arrest of the miners at a gold-mining site after a dispute over payment for mining pits.
Shehu said the miners had been working at the site when some villagers summoned them to a palace to discuss the payment demanded for the pits.
He said the miners were informed that each mining pit attracted a payment of N150,000.
“We told them that some of our colleagues had already come and paid N150,000 for their pits, and that they should allow us to continue working,” Shehu said.
“Later, some people came and told us that since the payment had not been made for all the pits, we could not continue working.”
According to him, the disagreement eventually led to their arrest.
Shehu said the arrest occurred after the miners had worked through the day.
“We were working until after the morning prayer. At about 3 p.m. and a few minutes, I was sitting there while one of my brothers went into the pit to work. I got up and went to pray,” he said.
“When I returned, we suddenly saw some people who came to us. The people who normally work with us, our colleagues, came and told us to come to the palace so that we could discuss the matter again.”
He said the miners were willing to settle the payment when they had the means.
“We told them that some of our colleagues had not yet come to pay for their pits. They said yes. We told them that, if God gave us the means, we would also come and pay for our own pits.
“They agreed. We heard them, but we tried to return to the mosque.”
Asked whether the people who came to them were responsible for their arrest, Shehu said, “Yes, the people who came were the ones who arrested us. They simply came and arrested us.”
Shehu said 66 people were detained together, although the facility was allegedly incapable of accommodating such a large number.
“All of us inside were 66 people,” he said.
“Six of us were brought to the hospital. We do not know how many people they took away because only six of us were brought here.”
The survivor said the detainees were not subjected to physical assault but blamed the deaths on the conditions inside the cell.
Asked whether the detainees were beaten, shot or poisoned, Shehu replied, “There was no beating. When they brought us there, nobody beat us. It was the heat.”
He added, “The cell they took us to was very small. We told them there were too many people inside. We talked to them repeatedly, but they did not listen.
“We started banging on the cell door, but it did not break. We could hear and see our fellow detainees dying. We told them that our fellow detainees were dying, but they thought we were lying.
“They did not beat us. It was the heat that affected us.”
Another survivor corroborated the account of unbearable conditions, saying detainees were drenched in sweat as the temperature inside the cell became increasingly difficult to endure.
“There were many bodies. They were not just one or two. Some of them had died as early as the morning,” the survivor said.
He said the detainees tried to alert officers to the deaths through the small opening in the cell.
“We were near the door. There was only a small opening, but it was not enough. We tried to show them what was happening, but the door was already overcrowded.”
Describing the psychological impact of the incident, he said, “As I am standing here now, honestly, I do not know what to say. My fellow workers have died. I am devastated. Those who were close to us are gone, and we do not know what will happen next.”
The survivors said despite the tragedy, many of those involved in mining had few alternative sources of income.
Asked whether he would continue mining, one of them said, “We have no choice. This is the only work through which we get what we eat.”
The miners reportedly migrated from Allawa to the area in search of livelihood opportunities.
A relative of one of the detainees, identified as Abdullahi, said his son, Salim, was among those arrested at the gold-mining site.
Abdullahi said Salim was responsible for providing food and other basic needs for the family.
“I have a son named Salim. He is the one who goes out to find what we will eat, both day and night. He went out three days ago, and that was when I heard that he had been arrested,” he said.
According to him, Civil Defence officers arrested his son at the mining site.
“We came and tried to resolve the matter with them. They told us it was not the right time. We had been coming for three days. Yesterday, we brought food to them,” Abdullahi said.
He said the family returned to the facility with food the following day, only to encounter dead bodies.
“Today, when we went back to take them food, we found dead bodies,” he said.
Asked how many bodies they saw, he said there were many, although they had already been moved to another location.
“There were many bodies. They had taken them away to another place,” he said.
He added that four people had also been taken away.
Family demands justice
Abdullahi called on the government to investigate the incident and establish the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
“My appeal is to the government and to people everywhere to seek justice. Whatever caused this tragedy has brought suffering because these people have nothing else to do,” he said.
He maintained that his son was not a criminal but was working to support the family.
“First, the government did not provide these young men with jobs. When they go out looking for food and bring something home, it is not an additional benefit to us; it is what we survive on,” he said.
“Honestly, I am only a security guard. This boy was the one feeding us. He was the one providing our food and drinking water. He would go out, find something, come back and give it to his mother.”
He said Salim had worked at the mining site for about two years.
“He never insulted anyone. He never fought anyone. He had been doing this work for about two years.
“Why should his rights be violated? Even if he was working in that place, that was what he did to survive. He did not steal and did not insult anybody.”
The reported deaths have raised questions about the conditions under which suspects were detained and the responsibility of authorities to protect people in their custody.
However, the precise number of deaths, the circumstances surrounding each death and the medical causes have not been independently established from the material available.
The NSCDC’s response to the allegations was not contained in the material reviewed by PLATFORM TIMES.
An independent investigation, including detention records, medical reports, post-mortem findings and accounts from the NSCDC and other relevant authorities, would be necessary to establish what happened to the detainees and the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
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