NANYD questions the miners’ death probe report, alleging contradictions in its findings and recommendations against NSCDC leadership
The National Association of Nigerian Youth in Development (NANYD) has criticised a federal government committee’s report on the deaths of 33 miners in Minna, Niger State, questioning its recommendation for a complete overhaul of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) leadership.
The association commended the committee for submitting its report but described its recommendation against the corps’ leadership as contradictory, alleging that it amounted to a witch-hunt.
In a statement signed by its National President, Alhaji Bukura Ahmed, PhD, NANYD argued that the report’s findings indicated that the now-suspended Niger State NSCDC commandant conducted the operation without the requisite approval from the corps’ national headquarters.
According to the association, the report stated that the operation was undertaken without proper planning and without the involvement of mining authorities or senior NSCDC officials at the national and zonal levels.
NANYD questioned why the committee would recommend a sweeping restructuring of the corps’ leadership if its own findings indicated that the national headquarters had not been informed of the operation.
“The committee deserves credit. Here is the contradiction and it is not a small one,” Bukura said.
He argued that the operation was conceived and executed at the command level, allegedly without the established channels of consultation and supervision.
The association maintained that the officers responsible for planning and carrying out the operation should face accountability for their actions, rather than the national leadership being held responsible for an operation it allegedly did not authorise.
Bukura said the suspended commandant had acted on his own operational discretion, with the decision resulting in what he described as catastrophic consequences.
He argued that, if the committee’s findings were accurate, the NSCDC national headquarters could not reasonably be described as the architect of the tragedy.
NANYD also questioned the treatment of officers allegedly involved in the operation, including those responsible for the detention of the miners.
The association referred to allegations that about 50 people were crammed into a cell and that their cries for help were ignored.
It argued that the committee should clearly distinguish the responsibility of officers involved in the operation from that of senior officials who were allegedly not informed.
Bukura said the committee’s recommendation for murder charges against officers implicated in the incident was appropriate, but questioned why it also recommended an overhaul of the corps’ leadership.
He maintained that the two recommendations could not comfortably coexist without a clearer explanation of the national leadership’s alleged responsibility.
The association’s position is that responsibility should be based on the findings of the investigation and the roles played by individual officers, rather than a blanket decision affecting the entire leadership.
NANYD also expressed support for the Commandant-General of the NSCDC, Professor Ahmed Abubakar Audi, praising his leadership and describing efforts to remove him over the incident as unjustified.
Bukura cautioned against using the miners’ deaths to undermine the commandant-general’s contributions to the agency, arguing that the leadership should not be held responsible for an operation it allegedly neither authorised nor knew about.
He questioned whether the same standard of collective responsibility would be applied to other security institutions and political officeholders following deadly incidents elsewhere in the country.
“With the plenty of killings in Benue, Plateau and other killings across the country, we should as well recommend that all the service chiefs, the Police IG, Governors of the states who are the Chief Security Officers of the State, the Minister of Defence and also the President be overhauled because of the tragedies,” he said.
Bukura argued that a single operational failure should not automatically invalidate the work of an entire institution, while insisting that officers directly responsible for misconduct should be held accountable.
The association further alleged that powerful interests within government could be seeking to remove the NSCDC leadership under the cover of the tragedy.
It described the proposed overhaul as a possible witch-hunt, arguing that the committee’s recommendations appeared inconsistent with its own findings.
“ There is a witch-hunt here and it is aimed at a leadership that the report’s own findings exonerate,” Bukura said.
He also questioned whether the corps’ previous achievements in protecting critical infrastructure, tackling sabotage and securing mining sites had been adequately considered in the report.
NANYD called for the reasoning behind the recommendation to overhaul the leadership to be examined, arguing that the investigation should clearly establish the responsibility of the officers and officials involved.
The association’s criticism centres on the distinction between the alleged conduct of the suspended Niger State commandant and the responsibility of the NSCDC’s national leadership.
Its claims about a witch-hunt and the leadership’s exoneration represent its interpretation of the report.
The controversy has placed renewed attention on accountability within the security agency and the need for clear findings on the circumstances that led to the deaths of the miners.
