Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
The Federal Government has released the full list of twenty officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps suspended in connection with the deaths of thirty-seven detainees in Niger State, in an unprecedented accountability action that has placed the Corps’ custodial practices under national scrutiny.
The suspension was announced on Saturday by the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, following a directive by President Bola Tinubu for a comprehensive, transparent and unhindered investigation into the incident. The officers, in addition to the Niger State Commandant of the Corps, Suberu Siyaka Aniviye, were suspended pending the outcome of an independent investigation. The suspended personnel include officers involved in arrest, investigation, legal and custodial duties, reflecting the government’s determination to hold accountable everyone in the chain of responsibility.
The twenty officers are: O/C Station Guard, SC Usman Isah Ndamaka; Station Guard, ASCI Hassan Mohammed; Station Guard, CCA Bala Mohammed; Arresting Officer and O/C Investigation, CSC Oluwadare Sunday; Arresting Officer, DCC Obafemi Elvis; Arresting Officer, CSC Annas Shitto Lamino; HOD INT/INV, DCC Philip Ajayi; O/C Legal, ACC Barr. Stephen Tsado; Day/Night Duty Officer, ASCI Alhassan Mohammed; and fourteen officers assigned to guard duty: IC Abdullahi Sale, IC Mohammed Sonfada, CAI Liman Abubakar, CAI Bala Usman, IC Mohammed Jiya, DSC Isah Suleiman, CAI Ahmed Wushishi, IC Sale Adamu, IC Haruna Mohammed, ASCI Aliyu Sallah and CAI Isah Sanusi.
The deaths occurred in the early hours of Thursday, September 17, 2026, after the detainees were arrested during enforcement operations conducted by the NSCDC Niger State Command in the M.I. Wushishi and Lukoto areas of the state on September 15 and 16. The operations targeted suspected illegal mining activities. The NSCDC initially attributed the deaths to a suspected disease outbreak and said the bodies had been taken to the General Hospital, Minna, for medical examination to establish the actual cause. The cause of death has not been confirmed.
Survivors have offered harrowing accounts that contradict the disease outbreak explanation. One survivor, Dauda Shehu, said detainees had been packed into a poorly ventilated cell and struggled to breathe. Another survivor alleged that a substance resembling perfume was sprayed inside an overcrowded cell shortly before some detainees began collapsing. A survivor told the Associated Press that about sixty-five detainees were packed into a small, airless room, suggesting the dead may have suffocated. The accounts have not been independently verified, and the investigation now underway is expected to establish the facts.
The thirty-seven deaths triggered protests in Minna, the Niger State capital, prompting Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago to impose a 24-hour curfew. The Governor declared three days of mourning and questioned the number of miners arrested, saying his office and that of Homeland Security were not informed before the NSCDC operation. He said sixty-seven artisanal miners had been held in a cell before thirty-seven died. The state government also constituted its own committee of inquiry into the deaths.
The Federal Government’s ten-member independent committee is chaired by Mr. Jonathan Kure, a retired Deputy Director-General of the Department of State Services. Professor Isa Hayatu Chiroma, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and former Director-General of the Nigerian Law School, serves as Secretary. The panel includes AIG Hosea Hassan Karma (retired); Professor Olayinka Buhari, a professor of histopathology and former Chief Medical Director of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital; representatives of the Minna Emirate Council and the Niger State Government; Alhaji Liman Sulaiman, National Secretary of the Miners Association of Nigeria; Mr. Deji Adeyanju, lawyer and human rights activist; Mrs. Zainab Suleiman Okino of Blueprint Newspaper; and Dr. George Agbakahi, a public affairs analyst. The committee has two weeks to submit its report to the Minister.
Tunji-Ojo described the deaths as deeply disturbing, saying the government owed the families of the deceased and the Nigerian public a transparent account of what transpired. He directed the NSCDC leadership and all relevant officers to cooperate fully with the committee and preserve all records and material evidence connected to the incident. "Any attempt to destroy or conceal evidence, intimidate witnesses or obstruct the investigation will be treated as a serious offence," he warned. He expressed condolences to the families of the deceased and appealed for calm while the investigation continues.
The tragedy has drawn reactions from across Nigeria's political spectrum. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar called for an independent, thorough and transparent investigation. "No Nigerian should enter government custody and lose the most basic right of all: the right to life," he said. He commended the suspension of the officers but warned that this must not be the end of the matter, calling for the findings to be made public and for anyone found responsible to be held fully accountable. Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, also demanded an urgent and transparent investigation. Amnesty International Nigeria demanded an immediate probe, while the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project urged United Nations Special Rapporteurs to intervene. Parents of the deceased miners have demanded compensation, saying it would serve as a deterrent against abuse of power.
The deaths have renewed scrutiny of detention conditions in Nigeria, where overcrowding, poor ventilation and lack of access to medical care have been documented in facilities across the country. The thirty-seven deaths also come amid heightened tensions in Niger State, where illegal mining operations have been linked to criminal gang violence and where armed groups have attacked communities in recent months. For the families of the deceased, the committee's work represents the first formal step toward accountability. For the government, it is a test of whether a transparent investigation can restore a measure of public trust in institutions that have too often failed to protect the lives in their custody. As the panel begins its work, the coming two weeks will determine whether the deaths of thirty-seven Nigerians are met with the accountability the Minister has promised, or whether the investigation becomes another chapter in a long history of impunity.
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