Niger Miners’ Deaths: 50 Men Were Cramped Into 12sqm Cell – Committee Chairman

The Chairman of the Investigative Committee on the deaths of miners in Niger State, Jonathan Kure, has revealed that 50 male miners were crammed into a single cell measuring 12 square metres at the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) facility, where 33 of them later died.

Kure said the detainees had repeatedly cried out for help, water and relief from the intense heat but were allegedly denied assistance because the only cell guard on duty had been instructed not to open the cell.

He disclosed this on Tuesday night while speaking on ARISE News, where he recounted the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the miners in NSCDC custody.

According to him, 75 people were arrested during an operation declared by the NSCDC command in Niger State, but one detainee subsequently fell ill and was kept outside the cell.

Of the remaining 74 detainees, 24 were women who were held in a separate cell, leaving 50 men locked inside the overcrowded 12-square-metre facility.

LEADERSHIP reports that the 10-member investigative committee presented its report in Abuja on Tuesday, confirming that 33 people died in the incident.

The committee also recommended ₦1.4 billion in compensation for the families of the deceased and the 44 survivors.

Recounting how the incident unfolded, Kure said the arrests began on September 15 and continued the following day as part of an operational week declared by the NSCDC command.

He said, “33 lives were lost. The whole incident started and ended in the presence of NSCDC, particularly at the detention facility.

“The number of corpses that were counted and confirmed after the cell was opened on the 17th, in the early hours of the 17th, because the whole saga started on the 15th, when the first arrest was made.

“It was an operation that was declared an operational week. So, the commandant held a meeting with his staff, during which he declared the week an operational week and directed that everybody should come prepared starting from Tuesday. So on Tuesday, the first round of arrests, and then on Wednesday, which was the 16th, the second round of arrests.”

Explaining the number of detainees and the conditions in which they were held, Kure said the mass arrests resulted in 75 people being detained, with one person later taken ill and kept outside the cell.

He added that the 24 women were placed in a separate cell, leaving 50 men confined to the single cell.

“So they have two cells. One cell was dedicated to the women. So when you take 24 out of 74, you have 50 males locked up in that single 12-square-metre cell.

“From early hours of the evening of the 16th, these 50 persons have been crammed into that single cell. And of course, anyone who knows Niger knows it’s one of the states with very hot weather. So from the early hours, around 8 o’clock, these people started crying from the heat.

“They were crying for help, water, we are dying and all this and that. But the cell guard, only a single cell guard on duty, was told by one of his superiors when he was closing: “Don’t, under no circumstances, should you open this cell.” And he was acting strictly on that order.”

Kure alleged that the guard failed to exercise discretion despite the detainees’ distress, as the men continued to die inside the cell.

He said two armed guards later raised concerns over the detainees’ cries and suggested opening the cell, but the officer on duty reportedly refused, citing the instruction he had received.

“So just to cut the story short, on the 17th of September, when the people on morning duty came, as they opened that cell, out of these 50 young men, 33 have dropped dead.

“Only 17 of them survived. No other death occurred anyway.”

The committee chairman also raised concerns about the handling of the scene before the investigative team arrived, saying evidence that could have helped determine the precise cause of death had been washed away.

According to him, several of the detainees had vomited and had bloodstains on their bodies and around the cell when the facility was eventually opened.

However, he said the scene had been cleaned before the committee’s team arrived, potentially limiting the medical team’s ability to establish what happened.

“When they went through this gory situation, many of them vomited. Many of them vomited, and they all had blood stains and all that. And by the time that cell was open, all these things were there.

“And remember, there was this claim of either spray or disease and all this and that. Before we got there, all this had been washed off.”

Kure said the removal of such evidence was a concern because physical traces at the scene could have helped pathologists and medical experts establish the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

He added that the committee’s pathological and medical teams needed the evidence to support their investigations, including autopsies and toxicological examinations.

“Our pathological team, the medical team, when they went, we all needed all these things.

“Because when you do the autopsy, when you do the toxicology and all that, these are things that will give you signals as to what precisely led to the death of this person.”