Niger State Governor, Umar Bago, has disclosed that he saw several dead bodies with blood stains, burns, bruises and cuts when he visited a Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) facility where 37 suspected illegal miners died in custody.
Bago made the disclosure while speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme, describing the condition in which he found the detainees as disturbing.
The governor said the bodies were lying on the floor and outside the detention facility when he arrived, while some detainees who were still alive were rushed to hospital for medical attention.
“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,” Bago said.
“And some even had some cuts on their bodies.”
According to the governor, the condition of the victims prompted him to order that the bodies be transferred to the state mortuary, while those who were still alive were 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.”
Bago also addressed concerns about the condition and capacity of the NSCDC facility, saying the building was not an old detention centre but a relatively new office recently occupied by the Corps.
“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,” he said.
However, the governor questioned whether the cell had sufficient capacity to accommodate the number of suspects reportedly held there.
He said a proper assessment would be required to establish whether the facility was suitable for the number of detainees.
“But the cell is not an old cell. But the size of the cell to take that amount of people will need probably statistics or science to prove whether it has a capacity for 100 people or 50 people or even 30 people,” Bago said.
The development followed the deaths of at least 37 suspected illegal miners who were reportedly arrested during enforcement operations around the M.I. Wushishi/Lukoto axis of Niger State on September 15 and 16.
Eyewitnesses had alleged that some of the detainees were physically assaulted while in custody before their deaths.
One witness, Ibrahim Adamu, said the suspects were arrested for engaging in illegal mining but alleged that some were subsequently beaten.
“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 had said.
Another source, whose brother was among those who died, alleged that NSCDC officers demanded N500,000 for his release. The source also claimed to have witnessed detainees being beaten with sticks and iron before leaving the facility.
There had also been claims that more than 60 people were being held in a single cell at the facility.
The NSCDC has confirmed that several suspected illegal miners died while in its custody but said the actual cause of death had not been established.
The Corps initially said the detainees were found dead following a suspected disease outbreak but later clarified that no specific disease had been medically or scientifically established as the cause of the deaths.
Following the controversy, the NSCDC constituted a high-powered investigative team led by the Deputy Commandant General in charge of Intelligence and Investigation to probe the incident.
The Corps said the investigation would examine the condition of the suspects when they were arrested, their period in custody, the conditions under which they were detained and the medical attention provided to them.
The remains of the deceased were deposited at the General Hospital, Minna, for medical examination and determination of the actual cause of death.
The Corps also cautioned against prematurely attributing the deaths to any particular disease pending the conclusion of medical and laboratory examinations.