Gunfire tore through Minna, Niger State, on Friday as anger over the deaths of 37 detained miners spilled into violence. Security operatives opened fire during a Minna miners protest that had begun peacefully, witnesses told Reuters, before demonstrators armed with sticks, machetes and hunting rifles pushed toward government buildings.
At least one body lay in the street by the time soldiers and police moved into the Niger State capital, where the Minna miners protest had by then spread well beyond its starting point.
The unrest followed a grim discovery.
On Thursday, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) confirmed that 37 suspects arrested during raids on illegal gold mines had died in its cells.
As the Minna miners protest gathered momentum, Niger State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago described the deaths as “sad” and “tragic” while speaking to reporters in Minna, according to Channels Television. He said his administration had established a committee of inquiry to determine what happened.
The victims were rounded up on 15 and 16 September in the Wushishi-Lukoto area west of Minna during an enforcement operation targeting suspected illegal mining activities.
Within a day, dozens of them were dead.
At first, the NSCDC pointed to a suspected disease outbreak inside the detention facility. Later, as questions mounted, the agency revised its position and said the cause of death had not yet been established pending medical examinations.
That explanation now competes with accounts from grieving families.
Shafa’atu Suleiman told Reuters she had visited her detained son, Abdullahi, and found him squeezed into an overcrowded NSCDC cell. Officials, she alleged, refused relatives permission to bring food and demanded 100,000 naira, about $75, for his release.
He died before she could raise the money.
“This is injustice,” she said. “We will not forgive them.”
NSCDC officials did not respond when Reuters put the allegations to them.
There is another complication. The bodies were buried on Thursday night in accordance with Islamic tradition before any forensic examination could be carried out. That decision may make it much harder for investigators to establish precisely what happened inside the detention facility.
For many residents, that timeline appears to have been the spark that transformed the Minna miners protest from grief into confrontation.
Speaking during the Minna miners protest, Yusuf Auwal, a miner who joined the crowd, expressed the frustration felt by many in the community.
“We are not thieves,” he told Reuters. “We are simply seeking a way to make a living by mining.”
His words point to a deeper tension running through Niger State’s mining communities.
Thousands of people rely on informal gold mining to survive. At the same time, federal authorities argue that unauthorised mining deprives the state of revenue, damages the environment and fuels criminal activity.
Both realities exist side by side.
That contradiction formed part of the backdrop to Friday’s violence in Minna.
Some protesters attempted to set government offices ablaze in the Tunga neighbourhood before soldiers and police dispersed the crowd.
Accountability has moved faster than answers.
Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo ordered the immediate suspension of Niger State NSCDC commandant Suberu Siyaka Aniviye pending a full investigation. The Interior Ministry described the deaths as “an unfortunate incident” and said the suspension would remain in effect throughout the inquiry.
Governor Bago has also cancelled a planned political rally and declared three days of mourning, an unusual pause in a state that had been preparing for campaign activities when the Minna miners protest erupted.
Despite the violence that marked the Minna miners protest, none of the official actions announced so far have answered the question hanging over the city: how 37 men entered NSCDC custody alive and left it in body bags.
Until investigators can provide a credible answer, the graves dug this week are unlikely to be the last word on the tragedy.
