Survivors of the disaster that saw 37 suspected illegal gold miners die while in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) recounted their panic on Friday as they struggled to breathe inside the cell.
Recounting his experience, one of the survivors said 17 people were initially locked inside a small room before additional detainees were brought in.
He said the detainees complained about the size of the room and the intense heat but were still kept inside.
“They locked us in a very small room. We were 17 in number, then they added more people, and we started complaining that the room was small,” he said.
According to him, the situation became worse after the detainees were asked to stand up as the room was about to be locked.
He alleged that an unidentified substance, which he described as looking like perfume, was sprayed inside the room.
“As they were about to lock the room, they sprayed something that looked like perfume, and the smell started disturbing everyone in the room,” he said.
The survivor said people subsequently began falling as the room became increasingly hot.
He said the detainees pleaded for water but were allegedly told that nobody would open the door.
“We pleaded with them to give us water, but they said no one would open the door for us,” he said.
The survivor also indicated that the ordeal continued into the night, although details of what happened afterwards were not immediately clear from his account.
Another survivor, who asked not to be named, said he made it out alive because he was near the cell entrance where he could breathe better.
“We were screaming for help,” he said, adding that guards were told that “people are dying one after the other; they did not believe us”.
Protest
The incident triggered rioting in Minna, the capital of the North-Central state, earlier, and allegedly police opened fire to disperse the crowds.
It was not immediately clear whether police were firing anti-riot pellets or live ammunition in Minna, where mobs blocked a main street and attacked a transport depot.
President Bola Tinubu on Friday ordered a full and transparent investigation into the deaths of the suspected illegal miners detained by the NSCDC following enforcement operations around Lt.Gen. Mohammed Inuwa Wushishi Estate in Minna, Niger State.
President Tinubu said the life of every Nigerian matters and that no citizen should lose his life while in government custody as a result of negligence, abuse, inhumane treatment, or dereliction of duty.
The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, suspended a civil defence commander and ordered a “full investigation” into Thursday’s deaths.
But anger erupted among sympathisers as testimony from survivors suggested the miners may have suffocated in packed cells.
A 40-second video shared online purporting to show the victims of the incident featured bodies of dozens of young men clad only in shorts.
Most of them appeared to be teenagers and were sprawled on the ground out in the open.
An intelligence report seen by AFP suggested the 37 died as a result of overcrowding and poor ventilation in the detention facility, though the civil defence initially blamed the deaths on disease.
Niger State is rich in minerals and attracts thousands of artisanal miners — most of them lured by the hope of striking gold.
The scramble for gold reserves dug up in illegal mines in the state is fuelling violence by criminal gangs, known locally as bandits, according to experts.
The gangs tax the miners and demand a cut from the extracted ore as a levy to allow them access to the pits.
Niger State Governor Umaru Bago announced a nighttime curfew in the city to curtail the unrest.
The interior ministry said it had suspended Suberu Siyaka Aniviye, the state commander of the NSCDC, while the incident is investigated.
“A full investigation will be conducted while the commandant under whose watch this happened remains suspended,” Tunji-Ojo said in a statement.
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