NSCDC Operatives Collected My Gold, Cash, 48 Miners Died Not 37–Survivors

A survivor of the incident in which miners died in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Niger State, Abdulsalam Yakubu, has alleged that NSCDC operatives took two bottles of mined gold and cash worth N1.35 million from him. He also claimed that 48 people died in custody, not 37 as widely reported.

Yakubu told the Justice Mohammed Mohammed Judicial Commission of Inquiry, sitting in Minna yesterday, that the NSCDC operatives took the gold and cash kept in his bag when he was arrested at a mining site in the Lokoto area of Bosso Local Government Area.

He said his working tools and other valuables had not been returned to him. He also disclosed that he was among the internally displaced persons (IDPs) who fled Allawa in Shiroro Local Government Area to Minna because of incessant bandit attacks in their community.

Yakubu said he turned to mining to earn a living after being displaced, adding that the income enabled him to cater for his elderly parents, who are also living in an IDP camp.

Despite his arrest and the deaths of fellow miners in custody, Yakubu told the commission that he would not stop going to the mining site to earn a living.

According to him, “We are still going to the mining site because we have no other means of livelihood. We turned to mining because we were displaced from our community in Allawa by armed bandits,” he told the commission.

The survivor further claimed that 48 people died in NSCDC custody, rather than the 37 reported in the media. He said he was surprised to learn that the reported death toll was 37.

He explained, “I am aware that we lost 48 persons in custody, not 37 as reported. I am even surprised to hear that 37 people died in custody.

The number of persons who died in custody was 48, not 37.”