By Omeiza Ajayi
The International Human Rights Commission IHRC has released the names of suspected illegal miners who died in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps NSCDC in Niger State.
The victims were among scores of suspects arrested during operations conducted on September 15 and 16 around Lt Gen Mohammed Inuwa Wushishi Estate in Minna, the Niger State capital.
The state’s NSCDC Commandant at the time, Suberu Aniviye, had said in a statement that scores of the detained suspects were found dead in the early hours of Thursday following a suspected outbreak of disease.
Following the development, the Federal Government suspended the Niger State NSCDC commandant and ordered a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
According to a report by The Cable, the IHRC said it had compiled a list of the 37 deceased, disclosing that the organisation obtained the initial list from the records of the General Hospital, Minna. The International Peace Ambassador at the IHRC, Awaisu Giwa, said the names were provided by the mortuary attendant on the instruction of the hospital’s Chief Medical Director, adding that four additional names had since been added to the list after relatives of victims whose names were not initially recorded approached the commission.
“We got the list from the CMD of the general hospital. It was written by the mortuary attendant for us, but we are going to the hospital tomorrow for the list to be on the official letterhead of the hospital. The CMD was the one who instructed the mortuary attendant to give us the names. Some people whose relatives were missing are beginning to report in our office”, Giwa said.
Giwa said the list would also be used to facilitate compensation for families of those who died in the incident.
The names of the deceased, as compiled by the IHRC and cross-checked against the General Hospital’s records, are: Ibrahim Sani, Fahad Sa’adu, Abdulsalam Ismail, Usman Aliyu, Abubakar Alhaji, Sani Nasir, Sanusi Khalid, Ahmad Aliyu, Safiyanu Abdullahi, Suleiman Dantala, Idris Haruna, Sani Yakubu, Safiyanu Abubakar, Abdullahi Abubakar, Abubakar Musa, Abdul Mudassir, Suleiman Lawal, Usman Abdullahi, Samuel Sambo, Ibrahim Musa, Yusuf Nasiru, Umar Lawal, Isyaku Amisu, Bissallah Adamu, Abdulbari Suleiman, Shafisu Lado, Usman Ahmad, Usman Ibrahim, Sani Isyaku, Musa Ibrahim, Idris Bashir, Kabiru Suleiman and Emmanuel Emeka.
Four additional names, said not to have been included in the General Hospital’s list, were also provided by the IHRC: Mu’awiya AbdulKarim, Abdul Gafar Abubakar, Usman Haruna and Yaro Salihu Soba.
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