{"id":3534,"date":"2026-10-30T13:03:44","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T08:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3534"},"modified":"2026-10-30T13:03:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T08:03:44","slug":"nigerian-families-and-survivors-seek-justice-over-miners-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3534","title":{"rendered":"Nigerian families and survivors seek justice over miners’ deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Families of \u200b37 artisanal miners who died in custody<\/a> in Nigeria want swift justice and the \u200creturn of property seized during their arrest, saying no financial compensation will make up for their loss.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A presidential panel<\/a> on Tuesday found that the detainees, who were suspected of being illegal miners, had died from overcrowding, extreme \u200bheat, dehydration and neglect while being held by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) \u200bin Niger State last month.<\/p>\n

Nigeria\u2019s government welcomed the panel\u2019s findings, and Interior \u2060Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo said the panel\u2019s report had been sent to the Attorney-General for immediate judicial \u200baction.<\/p>\n

He did not respond to requests for comment on when victims\u2019 families and survivors would receive \u200bcompensation.<\/p>\n

The deaths, including of teenagers, triggered protests<\/a> in Nigeria, raising new concerns about conditions in detention facilities and the treatment of suspects awaiting trial.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we wanted was for our children to be alive and return to us,\u201d said \u200bZainab Salihu, whose son was among the dead.<\/p>\n

She said the deaths in detention had led \u200bto the deterioration of the health of her husband, who later died. Reuters was unable to verify the circumstances \u200cof \u2060her husband\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter how much money they give us, it will never bring our children back,\u201d Salihu said.<\/p>\n

Dantala Tanko, whose 25-year-old son Suleiman died in detention, is struggling to come to terms with his loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow he is gone, and this is deeply painful for me. I know \u200bhe will never return,\u201d \u200bhe said after praying \u2060at his son\u2019s grave.<\/p>\n

Some survivors said they appreciated the investigation\u2019s findings, but wanted accountability.<\/p>\n

\u201cOfficers who demonstrate such disregard for human life should not remain \u200bin positions of authority. They must be held accountable, and appropriate disciplinary \u200baction should \u2060be taken,\u201d said said 25-year-old Dauda Shehu.<\/p>\n

Abdulsalam Yakubu, 23, said government action had been slow. He said he wanted the government to return motorcycles, phones, mining equipment and gold, which he said had \u2060been seized \u200bduring the victims\u2019 arrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have suffered enough. We are \u200basking for justice, the promised support, and the return of our property so that we can begin to rebuild our lives,\u201d \u200bhe told Reuters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Families of \u200b37 artisanal miners who died in custody in Nigeria want swift justice and the \u200creturn of property seized during their arrest, saying no financial compensation will make up for their loss. A presidential panel on Tuesday found that the detainees, who were suspected of being illegal miners, had died from overcrowding, extreme \u200bheat, dehydration and neglect while being held by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) \u200bin Niger State last month. Nigeria\u2019s government welcomed the panel\u2019s findings, and Interior \u2060Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo said the panel\u2019s report…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3534\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}