THIRTY-SEVEN suspected illegal miners who died in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Niger State have been identified.
News Point Nigeria reports that 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.
Suberu Aniviye, the NSCDC commandant in the state at the time, 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.
The International Human Rights Commission (IHRC) told this newspaper that it had compiled a list of the 37 deceased.
Awaisu Giwa, international peace ambassador at the IHRC, said on Sunday that the organisation obtained the initial list from the records of General Hospital, Minna.
Giwa said the names were provided by the mortuary attendant on the instruction of the hospital’s Chief Medical Director (CMD).
He said four additional names had 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,” he said.
“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 the list would also be used to facilitate compensation for families of those who died in the incident.
Below is the full list of the victims:
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
Emmanuel Emeka
Mu’awiya AbdulKarim — not included in the General Hospital list
Abdul Gafar Abubakar — not included in the General Hospital list
Usman Haruna — not included in the General Hospital list
Yaro Salihu Soba — not included in the General Hospital list
