Some survivors of the detention tragedy at the Niger State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), where 37 miners died in custody, have narrated their experience.
The survivors, spoke to journalists at the hospital where they are receiving treatment, said many of them were crammed into a tight cell by the NSCDC personnel after their arrest.
According to them, as they were being detained overnight, NSCDC officers ignored their complaints of intense heat and lack of ventilation in the cell, a situation they said resulted in the multiple deaths.
“The heat was unbearable. We repeatedly banged at the door trying to force it open, but to no avail. We equally called for help, pleading with the officers to save us, that some of us were already dying, but they ignored us, thinking we were making things up,” Dauda Shehu, one of the miners, said.
He said over 60 of them were arrested at the mines and taken into custody, adding that only six were evacuated to the hospital on Thursday morning.
‘We drank our urine to survive’
Another survivor described the detention facility as too small for the people forced into it. He said due to the intense heat that night, they were drenched in their sweat and suffered severe thirst.
“We felt acute thirst and started drinking our own urine to survive. Most of the people that died, died as a result of unbearable thirst,” he said.
According to him, the only source of air into the room was through a tiny hole on the door, which some of them near the entrance utilized to stay alive.
“We took turns to position our nostrils by the hole to take fresh air until morning, while dead bodies lay all about us in the room,” he added.
‘My son spent three days in detention’
A father, who simply gave his name as Abdullahi, said his son had spent three days in detention before he died. The father said he had taken food to the son on the night of the incident. “When we took food to him, we begged them to release him to us but they insisted we must give them N500,000. Where would I get that amount with the current state of the country?
“So, when we returned this morning to give him food, we met them dead,” he said. He said he saw up to 30 bodies piled up in two ambulances, including that of his son. “I suspect a foul play and would want government to investigate,” he said.
Also, a grandmother interviewed by journalists outside the hospital said she lost her grandson and wanted his body for burial. “I was just informed of his death by his brother. Let them hand over the bodies to us to go and bury. What are they keeping them for?” she said.
Niger State gov, NSCDC launch investigations
The Niger State governor, Mohammed Umar Bago, has announced the setting up of a committee of inquiry to unravel the cause of the incident. The governor confirmed that 37 people died in custody of the NSCDC.
He said the state commander of the corps and his team had been suspended, to pave the way for a proper investigation. The governor vowed to ensure justice and get to the root of the matter.
Similarly, the NSCDC has also launched an investigation into the deaths of the suspected illegal miners. In a press statement issued by its spokesperson, Babawale Afolabi, the corps said its commandant general, Ahmed Audi, had directed his deputy to lead a high-powered investigative panel to determine the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
Afolabi said the miners were arrested during a coordinated operation conducted by the Niger state command of the corps, as part of efforts to curb illegal mining activities in the state.
