About 50 males and boys had been confined in a cell measuring roughly 12 sq. metres on the Niger State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Minna, Niger State. Thirty-three of the detainees died in custody between 16 and 17 September 2026, a federal investigation has discovered.
PREMIUM TIMES reported earlier on Friday that the committee discovered that 14 of the 33 deceased individuals had been minors. They additionally included individuals displaced from their communities by bandits.
The cell had a strong metallic door, poor air flow, no working water and no functioning rest room. Food and consuming water had been both unavailable or grossly insufficient, in keeping with the investigation committee.
The Jonathan Kure-led 10-member committee’s ultimate report, obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, described the detention situations as merciless, inhuman and degrading, and concluded that the deaths had been foreseeable and preventable.
The report was submitted to the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, on 27 October.
Inside the cell
Investigators inspected the detention facility in Chanchaga, Minna, on 25 September, taking measurements, pictures and video recordings and getting ready a ground plan.
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The committee estimated that about 50 detainees occupied the male cell, roughly 5 instances the utmost occupancy of 10 it thought of applicable.
Survivors described excessive warmth and dehydration. They might barely transfer within the crowded cell, and a few collapsed as situations worsened, in keeping with the report.
The cell additionally had poor lighting. Children had been held alongside adults, which the committee discovered breached child-protection necessities.
Female detainees had been quickly moved elsewhere due to overcrowding however had been subsequently returned.
The committee additionally found that detainees within the male cell drank their very own urine or sweat as a result of they’d no entry to consuming water.
The probe panel additionally stated it discovered that officers liable for the cells failed to cut back the overcrowding, “ignored prolonged cries and banging of the cell door and wall and did not provide emergency help.”
Mining raids and illegal detention
The detentions adopted NSCDC raids on suspected unlawful mining websites in and round Minna on 15 and 16 September, after complaints from residents across the M.I. Wushishi space.
The panel confirmed that the mining websites had been licensed to Ozams Consult and Services Ltd and Prixair Resources Ltd.
However, the operations proceeded with out an authorized operational order, enough planning or session with the related mining authorities. The specialised Mining Marshals Unit was not concerned, and NSCDC National Headquarters had not been knowledgeable beforehand.
Men, girls and youngsters had been arrested. By the night of 16 September, 75 folks had been detained. One was launched, leaving 74 in custody in a single day, about 50 of them within the male cell.
The committee confirmed 33 deaths and recognized 41 survivors. Fourteen of those that died had been kids.
Some detainees had been internally displaced individuals who had turned to artisanal mining to outlive, the report discovered.
One sufferer, Emmanuel Emeka, 25, had been held since 12 September over a personal debt grievance unrelated to mining. The panel discovered his detention illegal.
Other detainees had been held past the permitted interval with out a courtroom order or remand warrant.
The command’s authorized officer had raised issues in regards to the detention of kids and suggested that the suspected mining offence was bailable. His recommendation was ignored, in keeping with the report.
The committee discovered that the period and situations of detention breached constitutional safeguards, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act and child-protection necessities.
Warnings of suffocation
On the night of 16 September, Mariam Etang Nelson, a nurse hooked up to the command, warned cell guards that overcrowding might trigger suffocation. She suggested leaving the metallic door unlocked to enhance air flow.
The warning was ignored, the committee discovered.
Evidence from survivors and officers indicated that indicators of misery started shortly after 7 p.m. Detainees shouted for assist, banged on the door and partitions, and pleaded for water.
A feminine detainee, Alheri Dauda, recalled listening to cries and banging from the lads’s cell from about 8 p.m.
Two armoury guards informed investigators that between 1 a.m. and a couple of a.m. they urged the officer on responsibility to open the cell after listening to screaming and banging. He refused, citing directions to not open it with out armed backup. A phone name to his superior went unanswered.
The guards stated the screaming stopped at about 2.30 a.m. Ms Dauda positioned the top of the disturbance at roughly 2 a.m.
Neither account established the exact time of demise.
The cell was opened the next morning. The committee discovered that officers had failed to cut back overcrowding or organize an enough emergency response.
Medical findings and their limits
Investigators interviewed 29 survivors, together with 9 kids. Six survivors acquired therapy at General Hospital Minna and had been subsequently discharged. Hospital data confirmed that 33 our bodies had been introduced in lifeless.
Post-mortem examinations had been carried out on solely three our bodies. The remaining 30 had been buried earlier than the medical crew arrived.
The medical findings had been most in line with respiratory failure attributable to a scarcity of oxygen within the overcrowded cell, described within the report as environmental asphyxia. Heat stress and dehydration had been recognized as possible contributing components.
The report states that the person causes of demise of the 30 unexamined victims couldn’t be decided medically. Their shared detention situations and the timing of the deaths recommended the identical mechanism as within the three examined instances.
The medical conclusions remained provisional pending toxicology outcomes.
The panel discovered no proof supporting a illness outbreak as the reason for the deaths.
Some survivors alleged that an aerosol substance had been sprayed into the cell, however the committee thought of the allegation unproven and inconceivable on the out there proof.
The medical part individually recorded eye and throat irritation. Toxicology outcomes had been excellent when the report was submitted.
Eight survivors reported being overwhelmed throughout arrest. The committee distinguished these allegations from its medical evaluation, which didn’t establish bodily assault because the fast explanation for demise.
Alterations earlier than inspection
Before unbiased forensic inspection, the detention cells had been scrubbed, washed and disinfected.
Additional air flow openings had been launched, other alterations made and numbers painted above the cell doorways.
Investigators documented the adjustments by evaluating the power with earlier photographs taken by first responders. The panel discovered that the cleansing and alterations interfered with bodily proof and restricted elements of the forensic evaluation.
The detention register for 16 September, when many of the suspects had been taken into custody, was additionally unavailable to investigators.
The lacking register and adjustments to the cells meant investigators might neither study the detention space in its unique situation nor seek the advice of a whole detention file for the day previous the invention of the deaths.
Nevertheless, the committee concluded that the overcrowding, insufficient air flow and failure to answer repeated warnings had made the deaths preventable.
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