By Ado Oyeyemi
The Federal Government has suspended the Niger State Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Suberu Aniviye, following the deaths of suspected illegal miners in the state.
The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, ordered the immediate suspension of the commandant and directed a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths, which reportedly occurred at an NSCDC facility in Minna.
The suspected illegal miners were arrested during coordinated enforcement operations conducted by the NSCDC in the M.I. Wushishi/Lukoto axis and other parts of Niger State on September 15 and 16, 2026.
The development followed reports that no fewer than 33 of the detainees had died, although the NSCDC has not released a specific figure for the number of deceased persons.
The deaths were reportedly discovered in the early hours of Thursday, with Aniviye initially attributing them to a suspected disease outbreak.
However, the NSCDC national headquarters said the cause of the deaths had yet to be established, stressing that claims linking them to any specific disease remained subject to medical and laboratory confirmation.
Tunji-Ojo’s directive was contained in a statement issued on Friday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Alao Babatunde.
The minister described the incident as unfortunate and said the commandant under whose watch the deaths occurred would remain suspended while the investigation was conducted.
“It is an unfortunate incident, however, a full investigation will be conducted while the commandant under whose watch this happened remains suspended.
“We run a government whose ultimate priority is security of lives and we have worked to stay true to this,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He urged members of the public to remain calm and law-abiding to allow the authorities to conduct a transparent investigation.
The minister also commiserated with the Niger State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, and the families and relatives of the deceased.
Meanwhile, the NSCDC had earlier constituted a high-powered investigative team to establish the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
The Corps’ National Public Relations Officer, Babawale Afolabi, said the team, headed by the Deputy Commandant-General in charge of Intelligence and Investigation, was mandated to conduct a comprehensive inquiry into the incident.
According to him, the investigation would examine the condition of the suspects when they were arrested, their period in custody, the conditions of detention, medical attention provided to them and other factors surrounding the deaths.
The Commandant-General of the NSCDC, Ahmed Abubakar Audi, also directed that the health and welfare of all persons still in custody be prioritised.
He further ordered measures to protect personnel who might have come into contact with the affected detainees.
The Corps expressed condolences to the families of the deceased and assured them that the circumstances surrounding the incident would be thoroughly investigated and appropriately addressed based on established facts.
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Afolabi reiterated that the NSCDC would refrain from speculating on the cause of the deaths until medical examinations and laboratory tests had established the facts.
