Nigerian panel says 33 cell deaths were preventable

A Nigerian federal inquiry has found that 33 detainees, including 14 minors, died of asphyxia in an overcrowded cell run by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Minna, Niger State, in September, and called the deaths “entirely preventable.”

The 10-member committee, set up by President Bola Tinubu, presented its report to Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo in Abuja on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, the BBC reported. Early reports had put the toll at 37, but the committee authenticated 33 deaths and identified 41 survivors, Telegraph Nigeria reported.

The detainees were arrested during raids on suspected illegal mining sites in the Wushishi and Lukoto areas of Niger State on Sept. 15 and 16. The committee said the operation had no operational order and no approval from NSCDC national headquarters, according to Business Post Nigeria.

Telegraph Nigeria reported that about 50 men were held in a cell of roughly 20 square metres with poor ventilation, no running water and no working toilet. Adults and minors were held together. The deaths occurred between 8 p.m. on Sept. 16 and 7 a.m. on Sept. 17, when the cell was opened.

“The committee concludes that the death of 33 detainees, including 14 minors, was entirely preventable,” committee chairman Jonathan Kure said, according to Telegraph Nigeria. The panel cited severe overcrowding, heat stress and dehydration, and said officers ignored repeated distress calls. It found no evidence of a disease outbreak, which the state commandant had cited, and no evidence to support claims that an aerosol was sprayed into the cell.

The committee also said the detention area was cleaned and disinfected before independent forensic investigators arrived, and that only three bodies were examined by post-mortem before the other 30 were buried.

It recommended that officers be prosecuted for offences including murder, criminal negligence and torture where applicable, and that the state commandant and others directly responsible be summarily dismissed. It also proposed compensation of ₦30 million for each bereaved family and ₦10 million for each survivor, about ₦1.4 billion in total, along with a formal federal apology.

Tunji-Ojo promised to implement the recommendations and said the report would go to the attorney general’s office for legal action. “The best gift we can give to the deceased is justice. And justice must be done,” he said, according to Telegraph Nigeria. He also ordered the suspension of officers allegedly involved in cleaning the detention centre.

For Canadians, the case lands in a state the federal government already flags. Global Affairs Canada’s Nigeria travel advisory, last updated Oct. 21, 2026, tells Canadians to avoid non-essential travel to the country and says violent incidents occur in Niger State, where kidnappings have increased.

The report comes as Nigeria heads toward a general election, with Tinubu’s re-election bid launched in Kaduna, and as the country manages an imported Ebola outbreak, which we covered in our report on contact monitoring.

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