Niger: Group Laments Death Of Minors, Applauds Arrest Of NSCDC Officials

A political rights group, the Niger Delta Rights Advocates (NDRA), has endorsed the arrest and detention of 24 serving personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), over the unfortunate death of 37 suspected illegal miners in Minna, Niger State.

The group lauded the NSCDC commandant-general, Prof. Abubakar Audi, for proving that the corps under his watch cannot condone an obvious breach to the right to life guaranteed under Section 33 of the 1999 Constitution.

The group, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt yesterday, by its director of Strategy, Dr Chucks Alozie, demanded that no stone be left unturned in exposing all the culprits whose action or inaction resulted in the incident.

He said, “It was timeous for the NSCDC high command to have swiftly arrested and detained its men who are said to be remotely or directly connected to this national disaster. We commend this reaction by the NSCDC as it goes to confirm the agency’s commitment to an open and unbiased investigation of the incident; a sense of obligation to the ordinary citizens of Nigeria and its respect for the sanctity of human lives.

“Professor Abubakar Audi has proven that the civil defence under his watch cannot condone an obvious breach to the right to life guaranteed under Section 33 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), and Article 4 of the African Charter of Human and People’s Rights. We demand that no stone be left unturned in exposing all the culprits whose actions or inaction resulted in the September 17 2026 incident.

“We equally demand the immediate and unconditional release of persons, especially minors, held in confinement in any detention facilities nationwide, especially if their offences are bailable just like the one that led to this national calamity.

“While we welcome the committee set up by the Ministry of Interior to independently investigate this incident, we demand for the expansion of the Committee’s scope to include but not limited to recommending long term deterrent measures, short term mitigating measures to encompass training and retraining for all paramilitary agencies under the Interior Ministry inorder to serve the broader objectives of ensuring national security, adequate financial compensation to families of victims.

“We note that the NSCDC like other paramilitary agencies in Nigeria require regular training to bring them up to speed with global realities and efficient delivery on its mandate of combating vandalism, fighting oil theft, illegal bunkering and disaster management.

“Therefore, we demand for the convocation of an emergency National Security Summit, where these issues and others underlying our national security can be adequately analyzed with a national roadmap for our internal security constructively framed.

“In the interim, we demand for the proper digitization of all mining activities across the country, with an inter-agency collaboration to checkmate economic sabotage.”