Survivors from the incident that claimed the lives of 37 suspected illegal gold miners while in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) have recounted their experience on Friday as they struggled to breathe inside the cell.
Nigeria’s government has suspended a civil defence commander and ordered a full investigation into Thursday’s tragic deaths.
“All of a sudden, we realized that we could not breathe, and we were all scampering for fresh air. We even appealed to them several times and banged on the cell door, but they refused to answer us.”
“Several times, we raised the alarm that people were already dying of suffocation, but nobody answered us,” Dauda Shehu told journalists at a city hospital.
Another survivor, who requested anonymity, said he made it out alive only because he was positioned near the cell entrance, where the air was better.
“We were screaming for help,” he said, telling the guards that people were dying one after the other, but they simply did not believe them.
An intelligence report seen by AFP indicated that the 37 victims died as a result of severe overcrowding and poor ventilation in the detention facility, although the civil defence initially blamed the deaths on disease.
Following the incident, Niger State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago announced a nighttime curfew in the city to help curtail any potential unrest.
The Interior Ministry stated that it had suspended Suberu Siyaka Aniviye, the state commander of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), pending the outcome of the investigation.
“A full investigation will be conducted while the commandant under whose watch this happened remains suspended,” Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo said in a statement.