Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, has vowed that the Nigeria Police Force will leave no stone unturned in unraveling the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 37 suspected illegal miners while in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Niger State.
Disu gave the assurance on Friday when he visited the Niger State Government House in Minna to condole with Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago and the people of the state over the deaths.
He said the police would work with the Niger State Government and the NSCDC to establish the circumstances leading to the deaths, describing fatalities in custody as a serious matter requiring thorough investigation.
“We want to assure you, Your Excellency, that we leave no stone unturned to unravel the situation that leads to this death,” the IGP said.
Disu, who said he was in the state both to pay his condolences and inspect the scenes connected with the incident, said the police had a responsibility to investigate deaths that occur in custody.
“Cases of death while in custody is a very serious one, and falls under the confines of the Nigerian Police Force, wherever it happens. Most especially these that have 37 victims,” he said.
The police chief’s visit came as tension continued in Minna following the deaths, with the state government imposing a 12-hour curfew after protests and attacks on public and private property were reported in parts of the state.
Disu appealed to residents, particularly youths, to remain calm and avoid taking the law into their own hands, promising that the police would ensure that the circumstances surrounding the deaths were properly investigated.
“We want to assure them to be calm, that we will not compromise in ensuring that the proper thing is done to unravel the cause of this incident,” he said.
He added that the police would intensify patrols across the state to prevent a breakdown of law and order.
“We are going to ensure that we patrol the towns, and ensure that there is no breakdown of law and order,” the IGP said.
The deaths occurred after the NSCDC arrested scores of suspected illegal miners during enforcement operations around the M.I. Wushishi and Lukoto areas of Minna on September 15 and 16.
The NSCDC Niger State Command initially said the detainees were found dead following a suspected disease outbreak, but the actual cause of death has not been established.
The police have since commenced an investigation, while the Niger State Government has also constituted a committee of inquiry and ordered forensic examinations and autopsies.
Governor Bago, who received the IGP and his delegation, said the state government would work closely with the police and other security agencies to establish what happened.
He said it was too early to reach a conclusion on the cause of the deaths, but disclosed that investigators were examining two major possibilities: suffocation arising from overcrowding and possible exposure to hazardous substances associated with mining.
“To the root causes of this, it will be too early for anybody to conclude,” Bago said.
He added: “The first one is to say the number of people in a cell were so many that probably they died as a result of suffocation.
“The second one is that from the preliminary reports on the autopsy, we’ve seen corpses who have a kind of bone and skin peeling and we have some foaming from their mouth with blood stains.”
According to the governor, the findings could not yet rule out poisoning from substances at the mining site or another source.
“This cannot be isolated from poisoning, probably from the mining site or otherwise,” he said.
Bago said the state government had constituted a committee of inquiry and that the Commissioner of Police, the Department of State Services and the military were working with the committee.
He pledged that relevant information gathered by the various agencies would be shared to establish the facts surrounding the deaths.
The governor also disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Mines had commenced its own investigation, involving laboratories and scientists alongside its cemical investigation capacity.
A key part of the investigation, he said, would be an examination of the mining site and its environment, “Sample of the soil must be taken to avoid radiation and further reoccurrence and also poisoning of our water,” Bago said.
The state government has also suspended mining activities at the affected site and temporarily halted mining activities across the state pending the outcome of the investigations.
