The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has demanded independent autopsies, the publication of the victims’ identities and detention records, compensation for their families, and the prosecution of every official responsible, as it called for an immediate, independent and transparent investigation into the deaths of 37 Nigerians in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Niger State.
In a statement on Friday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party declared that the lives of poor Nigerians must not be treated as disposable, insisting that the tragedy amounted to an indictment of the government’s regard for the value of the average Nigerian life.
“Thirty seven Nigerians entered government custody alive. Their families are now being asked to receive their bodies. This is an indictment on this government about the value of the average Nigerian life. Low income Nigerians are not disposable, and no Nigerian should lose his or her life simply because they were arrested while struggling to survive,” the party said.
The ADC expressed its condolences to the families of the deceased and insisted that their arrest during raids on mining sites did not extinguish their constitutional rights to life, dignity and due process.
“We must be clear: poverty is not a capital offence. Unemployment is not a death sentence. No accusation, whatever the case, gives any government institution the right to return citizens to their families in body bags,” the party said.
According to the ADC, the incident cannot be separated from the worsening cost of living and unemployment crises that have pushed millions of Nigerians into desperate and dangerous means of survival.
“The same APC led federal government that has failed to provide jobs is now criminalising the desperation created by its own policies. Food is unaffordable, transportation has become a luxury, businesses are closing and legitimate opportunities are disappearing. Yet, rather than confront these failures, the government continues to punish the victims of its failures,” the party stated.
The ADC also accused the government of arresting poor miners while failing to expose and prosecute the powerful interests behind illegal mining and the criminal networks connected to it.
“The poor are arrested for digging to survive, while the powerful men who finance illegal mining, sponsor insecurity and cart away Nigeria’s mineral wealth remain beyond the reach of the law. The Tinubu administration has made honest work scarce, survival expensive and insecurity profitable,” it said.
“President Tinubu must decide whether Nigeria’s security institutions exist to protect citizens or punish them for being poor. Nigerians need jobs, security and justice, not an economy that impoverishes them and institutions that treat their lives as disposable,” the ADC concluded.
