Minister Tunji-Ojo leads a federal delegation to commiserate with Niger State after 37 arrested artisanal miners died in NSCDC custody in Minna, as the state commandant is suspended amid suspicions the deaths resulted from suffocation, not disease.
Minna, Niger State — September 18, 2026
Minister of Interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo led a Federal Government delegation to Niger State to commiserate with the state government following the deaths of 37 artisanal miners while in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), even as the state's NSCDC commandant has been suspended pending investigation into the circumstances of the deaths.
According to a statement from Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago's Chief Press Secretary, Bologi Ibrahim, Tunji-Ojo described the incident as "a very sad day" not only for Minna and Niger State but for the entire country, noting that it comes at a time when the state has been making significant strides under Bago's homeland security initiatives.
The miners were arrested on September 15 and 16 during an NSCDC crackdown on illegal mining, with detainees taken from sites including the Mohammed Inuwa Wushishi Housing Estate and Lukoto village. Some of the deceased were reportedly internally displaced persons from Shiroro LGA. In the early hours of September 17, dozens of the detained suspects were found dead.
The state NSCDC Commandant, Suberu Siyaka Aniviye, initially attributed the deaths to a suspected disease outbreak inside the detention facility, without specifying the illness or confirming a death toll.
However, other reporting on the incident has characterised the deaths as resulting from suffocation in an overcrowded holding facility rather than disease, a markedly more serious explanation that would point to a custodial failure rather than a natural health emergency.
It was also reported that Minna General Hospital's management initially declined to accept the bodies, saying it had not been officially notified before ambulances arrived from the NSCDC command headquarters with the corpses; seven surviving detainees were said to have been admitted to the hospital's emergency unit.
Governor Bago confirmed the 37 deaths publicly and announced Aniviye's suspension as NSCDC state commandant pending the outcome of investigations. Tunji-Ojo reaffirmed that the Ministry of Interior would "get to the root of the matter" and work to ensure such an incident never recurs, while pledging continued federal collaboration with the Niger State Government.
In his response, Bago thanked the Federal Government for its swift commiseration visit, describing the incident as devastating for the entire state.
He welcomed the federal government's proposal to send a committee of experts to conduct laboratory testing at the mining site in question to determine what minerals or substances were present, a detail that suggests authorities have not ruled out the possibility that toxic exposure at the mining site itself, rather than conditions in detention, may have contributed to the deaths. Bago reiterated the need for a full investigation to establish the root cause and prevent any recurrence.
Separately, Bago used the occasion to commend the Nigeria Police, Army, and DSS for their response in the aftermath of the deaths, crediting them with helping to thwart attempts by criminal elements to exploit the tragedy and incite unrest.
The incident adds a grave new dimension to Nigeria's ongoing struggle with illegal, unregulated artisanal mining, a sector this outlet has covered extensively in Kogi and elsewhere, by raising serious questions not about the miners' alleged offences, but about the conditions in which security agencies are detaining suspects in the course of enforcement.
With the commandant already suspended and the true cause of death still officially unconfirmed pending post-mortem results, the case is likely to draw sustained scrutiny over NSCDC detention practices well beyond Niger State.
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