By Amah Alphonsus Amaonye, Director General, African Writers Centre, AWC.
Minna – Niger State is once again at the centre of a national conversation over security, governance and the protection of citizens after 37 suspected illegal miners died while in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Minna.
The latest tragedy, which occurred on Thursday, September 17, 2026, has triggered protests, a police investigation, the suspension of the NSCDC’s Niger State commandant and the imposition of a curfew in Minna.
The incident has also revived uncomfortable questions about the persistent security and governance challenges confronting Niger State under Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago, who has been in office since May 2023.
FROM BANDITRY TO MASS ABDUCTIONS
Niger State has experienced sustained attacks by bandits and other armed groups during the period.
The European Union Agency for Asylum, citing ACLED data, recorded 258 security incidents resulting in 859 fatalities between January 2024 and August 2025. The agency said incidents occurred across 22 local government areas, with particularly high numbers in Shiroro, Mariga and Rafi.
The insecurity has included attacks on communities, kidnappings, clashes with security forces, attacks on infrastructure and displacement.
In one of the most alarming episodes, bandits attacked communities around the Niger State-FCT border from December 2023 into January 2024. TheCable reported that more than 80 people were abducted and nearly 10 killed in attacks stretching from Garam and Kuduru to other communities around Tafa and neighbouring areas.
In March 2024, gunmen attacked a market in Madaka, Niger State, killing at least 21 people and abducting others. Shops, vehicles and a nearby clinic were also reportedly set ablaze.
That 21-death figure is therefore not the current miners’ death toll; it was recorded in that earlier attack.
THE SHIRORO–RAFI–MARIGA SECURITY BELT
The state’s security crisis has repeatedly centred on areas such as Shiroro, Rafi, Mariga, Munya and other communities where armed groups have operated.
In June 2024, for instance, an attack around Tunga Kawo in Shiroro reportedly resulted in the abduction of more than 20 people, while cattle were also rustled. The same period saw a deadly mining-site collapse at Galkogo, where one person was confirmed dead, six were rescued with severe injuries and about 30 others were initially trapped.
The security crisis has also affected economic and public infrastructure. The EUAA documented reports of attacks on power infrastructure, including the Shiroro-Kaduna transmission lines, as well as destruction of homes, farms and shops.
By 2025, the situation had become sufficiently serious for Governor Bago to publicly describe the state as being at a “tipping point” and later as a “state of war” in discussing the security situation.
He announced that his administration would not negotiate with or pay ransom to bandits and called for greater community participation in defending vulnerable areas.
THE 2025 KIDNAPPING CRISIS
The scale of the wider kidnapping problem became even clearer in 2025 and 2026.
A Reuters report based on SBM Intelligence data said 7,825 people were abducted across Nigeria between July 2025 and June 2026, with at least 1,142 people killed. The report specifically highlighted Niger State after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ordered security forces to rescue as many as 600 civilians reportedly abducted in north-central Niger State.
In August 2026, another mass kidnapping in Niger State generated international attention when a video appeared to show approximately 600 women, children and elderly people abducted during an attack on worshippers and surrounding communities in Dekara. Residents identified relatives in the video and appealed for government intervention.
These incidents underline that the security problem in Niger State is not confined to isolated bandit attacks. It encompasses mass abductions, rural insecurity, displacement, attacks on transportation corridors and the penetration of criminal groups into mineral-rich areas.
THEN CAME THE MINING CRACKDOWN
The relationship between illegal mining and insecurity has become another major concern.
In October 2025, Governor Bago banned mining activities in several local government areas in the state’s Zone C and ordered the NSCDC to arrest people engaging in mining activities. He argued that illegal mining was contributing to insecurity and questioned why miners could operate in forest areas where bandits also operated.
That policy context is important because the latest tragedy occurred during an NSCDC operation against suspected illegal miners.
Between September 15 and 16, 2026, NSCDC personnel arrested scores of suspected miners around the M.I. Wushishi and Lukoto areas.
Governor Bago subsequently disclosed that 67 artisanal and suspected illegal miners had been detained, before 37 of them were found dead.
37 DEAD IN NSCDC CUSTODY
The circumstances surrounding the deaths remain unresolved.
The NSCDC initially said the detainees died following a suspected disease outbreak. The Corps later acknowledged that the precise cause had not yet been established and would have to be determined through medical and laboratory investigations.
But a survivor, Dauda Shehu, told AP that approximately 65 detainees had been packed into a poorly ventilated cell, raising the possibility of suffocation. A preliminary intelligence report cited by AFP also pointed to possible overcrowding and inadequate ventilation.
Those claims remain allegations pending the outcome of the investigation.
Governor Bago described the deaths as tragic and announced three days of mourning. He also said many of those who died were young people, reportedly aged between 14 and 18.
The tragedy was followed by protests in Minna. Security forces used tear gas to disperse demonstrators, while reports said some protesters attempted to attack government property. The state subsequently imposed a 12-hour curfew.
At the federal level, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ordered an investigation, while the Niger State NSCDC commandant was suspended. Federal officials have said that nobody found culpable will be shielded, while simultaneously warning against prejudging the investigation.
A STATE CAUGHT BETWEEN SECURITY AND GOVERNANCE FAILURES?
The latest tragedy presents a complicated picture.
On one hand, Niger State faces a genuine illegal-mining problem. Gold and other mineral deposits have attracted large numbers of artisanal miners, while officials and analysts have linked illegal mining to armed groups that tax mining operations and use the proceeds to sustain criminal activities.
On the other hand, the death of dozens of people in government custody raises a separate question: even when the state is pursuing suspected illegal activity, what standards of detention, investigation and protection of life are being maintained?
That is now a matter for the police investigation, medical examinations and any independent inquiry that follows.
The broader record is difficult to ignore. Niger State has endured repeated episodes of kidnapping, banditry, killings, displacement and attacks on communities during the current administration. The latest figures from ACLED and IOM demonstrate the scale of the problem rather than an isolated incident.
But attributing every security incident directly to the governor would also oversimplify a crisis involving federal security agencies, armed criminal networks, porous forests and borders, illegal mining, local economic pressures and longstanding insecurity across Nigeria’s North-Central region.
What can be fairly said is that Governor Bago’s administration has inherited and presided over a state where insecurity remains a major governance challenge—and the latest deaths in NSCDC custody have added a new and deeply troubling dimension to that challenge.
The immediate questions are now straightforward:
What killed the 37 detainees? Why were so many people held in one facility? Were adequate medical, ventilation and detention safeguards provided? Were any laws violated? And, ultimately, who bears responsibility if wrongdoing is established?
Those questions deserve answers based on evidence, not speculation.
For Niger State, the tragedy is another reminder that security is not merely about defeating bandits or arresting illegal miners. It is also about protecting the lives and rights of people once they come under the authority of the state.
The people of Niger State deserve both: freedom from criminals and protection from any abuse of state power.
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