I Saw Dead Corpses On The Floor. Some Had Blood Stains In Their Noses

Niger State Governor Mohammed Umar Bago has said when he visited the detention facility where the alleged illegal miners were detained by the NSCDC, he saw many corpses on the floor and outside, some with blood stains in their noses and mouths.

Speaking in an interview with Channels Television, Bago made this known when he was asked to summarize what happened and to describe the condition of the detention cell as chief security officer of the state.

He said the state government and its agencies were not aware of any arrest at the illegal mining site located inside the Wushishi Housing Estate, which is part of the university land and has been taken over by artisanal and illegal miners. He said on that day the Niger State chapter of the NSCDC made arrests and put the suspects in custody, leading to the death of 37 people.

He explained that according to information gathered, the deaths were attributed to suffocation due to overcrowding. He said there were three cells, with no issue in the first two, but the third already had inmates before the newly arrested persons were added, resulting in the tragedy.

He said while suffocation appears to be the main direction, poisoning from toxins at the illegal mining site cannot be ruled out. He appealed for patience, noting that forensic experts are on ground to analyze findings.

Bago also revealed that some bodies had burns, bruises, and cuts, and he ordered the dead to be taken to the mortuary while those still breathing were rushed to the hospital and have survived, with some still on admission.

In his statement, “Now, the issue of the state of the cell, when we got there, I saw a lot of dead corpses on the floor and outside, and some had blood stains in their nose, in their mouth, and some had a lot of burns and kind of bruises on their body.”

“And some even have some cuts on their body, and that made me ask them to take them to the state mortuary because they were already lying on the floor, and those that were still breathing were now rushed to the hospital, where they were attended to.