By Ade Oyeyemi
Niger State Governor, Umar Bago, has raised fresh concerns over the deaths of 37 suspected illegal miners in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, saying some of the bodies he saw had blood stains, burns, bruises and cuts.
Bago disclosed this during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, while recounting his visit to the NSCDC facility where the detainees died.
The governor said he found several bodies lying inside and outside the facility when he arrived, while some of the detainees who were still alive were taken to hospital for treatment.
“Honestly speaking, the cell is not an old facility. In fact, it is just their new office. They just moved into that office not quite and the facility is practically very new,” Bago said.
He, however, expressed concern about the condition in which some of the victims were found.
“When we got there, I saw a lot of dead corpses on the floor and outside and some had blood stains in their noses, in their mouths and some had a lot of burns and kind of bruises on their body,” he said.
“And some even had some cuts on their bodies.”
Bago said the condition of the bodies prompted him to direct that the deceased be moved to the state mortuary, while those who were still alive were immediately taken to hospital.
“And that made me to ask them to take them to the state mortuary because they were already lying on the floor,” he said.
“And those that were still breathing were now rushed to the hospital where they were attended to. All of them have survived, some are still in hospital though and that is what we know about it.”
The governor said the capacity of the detention cell would also have to be assessed to determine whether it was suitable for the number of people reportedly held there.
He said it would require proper technical assessment to establish whether the facility could accommodate 100, 50 or even 30 detainees.
The 37 suspected illegal miners reportedly died after being arrested during enforcement operations around the M.I. Wushishi/Lukoto axis of the state on September 15 and 16.
Eyewitnesses had alleged that some of the detainees were subjected to physical assault while in custody, with one source claiming that more than 60 people were held in a single cell.
One of the witnesses, Ibrahim Adamu, alleged that some detainees were beaten after their arrest over suspected illegal mining.
“It is true that they caught them engaging in illegal mining, but the law does not say that when someone is caught engaging in illegal mining, they should be killed through torture or beaten to death,” Adamu was quoted as saying.
Another source, who said his brother was among those who died, alleged that NSCDC personnel demanded N500,000 for his release and claimed to have witnessed detainees being beaten with sticks and iron.
The allegations have not been independently established.
The NSCDC has confirmed that several suspected illegal miners died while in its custody but said the actual cause of the deaths had yet to be determined.
The Corps initially linked the deaths to a suspected disease outbreak but later clarified that no specific disease had been medically or scientifically established as the cause.
The NSCDC has since constituted a high-powered investigative panel, headed by the Deputy Commandant General in charge of Intelligence and Investigation, to probe the incident.
According to the Corps, the investigation will examine the condition of the suspects when they were arrested, the duration of their detention, the conditions in which they were held and the medical care provided to them.
The remains of the deceased were deposited at the General Hospital, Minna, for medical examination and further investigations to determine the cause of death.
The Corps has also warned against attributing the deaths to any particular disease before the completion of medical and laboratory examinations.
