33 miners died in custody. Nigeria now wants to know why
MINNA — At least 33 suspected illegal miners have died after being arrested during a crackdown in Nigeria, triggering protests and an investigation into what happened while they were in the custody of a government paramilitary agency.
The miners were arrested by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) during operations targeting illegal gold mining in Niger State’s Wushishi-Lukoto area earlier this week. Reuters journalists later saw 33 bodies at Minna General Hospital, although authorities have given differing figures for the number of deaths.
The central question is now how so many detainees died within days of being arrested.
The NSCDC initially suggested a possible disease outbreak, but a survivor has given a different account, alleging that detainees were packed into an overcrowded and poorly ventilated cell and that some suffocated. That allegation has not yet been established by an official investigation or medical findings.
The deaths have sparked protests in Minna, where demonstrators are demanding accountability. Police fired tear gas as protesters gathered on Friday.
Nigeria’s Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has suspended the Niger State NSCDC commandant, Suberu Siyaka Aniviye, while authorities investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
Niger State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago has also declared three days of mourning.
The incident comes amid Nigeria’s intensified campaign against illegal mining, with authorities increasingly targeting unlicensed operations across the country. Nigeria has significant deposits of gold, lithium and other minerals, but illegal extraction remains a major challenge for government.
The crackdown itself, however, is now overshadowed by what happened after the arrests.
Investigators will have to determine whether illness caused the deaths, as initially suggested, or whether conditions inside the detention facility contributed to them. Medical findings are expected to be central to establishing what happened.
For families and protesters in Minna, the immediate question is simpler: how did at least 33 people arrested alive during a mining operation end up dead while in government custody?
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