The Federal Government has suspended 20 officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), following the deaths of 37 persons detained on suspicion of illegal mining in the state.
This is just as the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, also constituted a 10-member independent committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
Politics Nigeria reports that the moves followed President Bola Tinubu’s directive for a comprehensive, transparent and unhindered investigation into the incident, which occurred on Thursday, September 17, 2026.
The affected officers include the Station Guard, SC Usman Isah Ndamaka; Station Guard, ASCI Hassan Mohammed; Station Guard, CCA Bala Mohammed; Arresting Officer/O/C Investigation, CSC Oluwadare Sunday; Arresting Officer, DCC Obafemi Elvis; and Arresting Officer, CSC Annas Shitto Lamino.
Others are HOD INT/INV, DCC Philip Ajayi; O/C Legal, ACC Barr. Stephen Tsado; Day/Night Duty Officer, ASCI Alhassan Mohammed; and 11 officers assigned to guard duties.
According to the minister, all officers involved in the incident would remain suspended pending the conclusion of the independent investigation.
Tunji-Ojo described the deaths as deeply disturbing, stressing that the government owed the families of the deceased and the Nigerian public a transparent account of the events that led to the incident.
The committee, chaired by retired Deputy Director-General of the Department of State Services, Jonathan Kure, is expected to establish the identities of the deceased and investigate their arrests, detention and the causes and circumstances of their deaths.
Prof. Isa Hayatu Chiroma, SAN, former Director-General of the Nigeria Law School, will serve as secretary of the committee.
Other members are retired AIG Hosea Hassan Karma; Prof. Olayinka Buhari, a Professor of Histopathology and former Chief Medical Director of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital; a representative of the Minna Emirate Council; and a representative of the Niger State Government.
Also on the committee are Alhaji Liman Sulaiman, National Secretary of the Miners Association of Nigeria; lawyer and human rights activist Deji Adeyanju; Mrs Zainab Suleiman Okino of Blueprint Newspaper; and Dr George Agbakahi, a public affairs analyst.
The committee has been given two weeks to complete its assignment and submit its report to the minister.
It is empowered to co-opt relevant experts, access necessary facilities and documents, visit locations connected to the incident and request memoranda from members of the public.
The minister directed the NSCDC leadership and other relevant officers to fully cooperate with the investigation, while ordering the preservation and release of all records and material evidence connected to the incident.
“Any attempt to destroy or conceal evidence, intimidate witnesses or obstruct the investigation will be treated as a serious offence,” Tunji-Ojo warned.
Politics Nigeria reports that the committee is also expected to determine responsibility, complicity, negligence and misconduct, as well as recommend appropriate action, compensation where applicable and measures to prevent a recurrence.
The victims were reportedly arrested on September 15 and 16 during NSCDC operations targeting suspected illegal and artisanal mining in the M.I. Wushishi and Lukoto areas of Niger State before being detained in Minna.