Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called for an independent criminal investigation into the deaths of 37 Nigerians who died while in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), insisting that President Bola Tinubu and two of his ministers cannot escape accountability for what happened.
In a statement released Saturday through his spokesman, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the victims — arrested during a crackdown on illegal mining — were alive when government agents took them into custody and were later returned to their families as corpses.
He directed his sharpest criticism at Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, whose ministry oversees the NSCDC, and Solid Minerals Development Minister, Dele Alake, accusing both of failing to take responsibility for an operation connected to their sectors.
According to the statement, survivors have alleged that detainees were packed into an overcrowded, poorly ventilated cell where they struggled to breathe — an allegation Atiku said warrants urgent, independent scrutiny rather than an internal government review.
He drew a comparison to the 2014 Nigeria Immigration Service recruitment tragedy, in which at least 16 applicants died and the then-supervising minister was later prosecuted, asking why a similar standard should not apply now.
Atiku argued that the suspensions of officers announced so far amount to scapegoating rather than justice, and called for the identification of everyone involved in the arrests, transport and detention of the victims, along with the preservation of detention registers, medical reports, communication logs and any surveillance footage.
He said autopsies should be conducted independently, families should be represented in the process, and findings should be made public with consequences for anyone found responsible, “regardless of uniform, rank or political connection.”
The statement also linked the tragedy to broader economic conditions, arguing that unemployment and poverty pushed many of the young victims into illegal mining in the first place.
Atiku placed ultimate responsibility on President Tinubu, saying the administration cannot use press releases and suspensions to avoid explaining “how 37 citizens entered government custody alive and emerged dead.
