The CLEEN Foundation has condemned the deaths of at least 37 suspected artisanal miners in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Minna, Niger State.
It is demanding an independent inquiry and a nationwide audit of detention facilities.
The detainees were arrested on September 15 and 16 during an enforcement operation against illegal mining and were found dead in the early hours of September 17.
According to survivor accounts cited by the group, the victims included teenagers and internally displaced persons from Shiroro Local Government Area.
In a statement signed by its Executive Director, Peter Maduoma, the organisation called the incident “one of the deadliest known custodial incidents in Nigeria’s recent history.”
Niger State Governor Umaru Bago confirmed the death toll and suspended the state NSCDC Commandant, Suberu Siyaka Aniviye. The NSCDC has also announced a high-powered internal investigative team.
CLEEN acknowledged both steps but said they fall short. “An internal disciplinary process and an internal probe cannot, on their own, deliver the independence, transparency, and accountability this tragedy demands,” the statement said.
The group also challenged the official explanation that a suspected disease outbreak was responsible. It said no medical or forensic findings have been released to support the claim, and that it conflicts with survivor testimony describing severe overcrowding and suffocation in cramped cells.
CLEEN described the explanation as unconfirmed pending independent autopsy and forensic results, and cautioned authorities against allowing it to “foreclose scrutiny of custodial conditions before the facts are established.”
The statement went further, characterising the explanation as a deliberate attempt at misdirection.
Citing Section 33 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the UN Convention Against Torture and the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Mandela Rules), CLEEN said every person in state custody keeps the right to life, humane treatment and due process.
“Alleged illegal mining is not a capital offence, and no suspect forfeits their right to life by virtue of arrest,” the statement said. “The presumption of innocence does not lapse at the cell door.”
CLEEN said the deaths were not an isolated failure but “the predictable outcome” of a custodial system in which holding cells across several security agencies are overcrowded, under-resourced and without independent oversight.
“Until that systemic gap is closed, Minna will not be the last,” the statement warned.
The organisation called for an independent, multi-stakeholder panel of inquiry, separate from the NSCDC’s internal team and the state judicial committee. It would include independent forensic pathologists, human rights organisations, civil society and community representatives.
It would have the power to conduct independent autopsies and take survivor testimony under protection from reprisal, and would report within a fixed, published timeline.
It also wants suspension and criminal accountability, meaning immediate interdiction of every officer with custodial responsibility for the deceased, and prosecution in the ordinary courts of any officer found negligent or culpable.
Another demand is a nationwide facility audit of cell capacity, ventilation, sanitation and medical provision across NSCDC, Nigeria Police Force and Correctional Service facilities. It would be commissioned by the Federal Government through the Ministry of Interior and the National Human Rights Commission, with a published remediation timeline for facilities that fail to meet the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015 and Mandela Rules standards.
Making further demands, the group said: “Full public disclosure of the inquiry’s findings, the audit report and named accountability outcomes, freely accessible to the public and the victims’ families. Reparations and support for families, including psychosocial support, funeral assistance and an accessible compensation mechanism independent of any criminal process.”
“No Nigerian, regardless of the allegation against them, should enter a law enforcement facility and leave in a body bag,” the statement said. “Human dignity and the rule of law must not stop at the cell door.”
CLEEN called on the Federal Government to hold those responsible to account and to end the secrecy around detention conditions. It said it stands with the bereaved families and “will be watching closely for a response that matches the gravity of what has happened.”
