WHEN CUSTODY BECOMES A DEATH SENTENCE, THE STATE MUST ANSWER

FIDA Nigeria Demands Answers Over the Deaths of 37 People in NSCDC Custody in Minna, Including Children

There is a point at which a security operation stops being about enforcement and becomes a question of life, dignity and State responsibility.

The deaths of 37 people while in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Minna, Niger State, have brought Nigeria to that point.

Among those detained were reportedly children, with reports identifying minors among those who died. One report has identified a seven-year-old among the victims. Survivors have described severe overcrowding, intense heat and inadequate ventilation inside the detention facility, with detainees struggling to breathe and calling for help. The precise circumstances and causes of death remain subject to investigation.

How did children end up in such conditions? Why did 37 people die while in State custody? And who will answer for what happened inside that facility?

FIDA Nigeria believes these questions require more than expressions of sympathy. They require answers, evidence and accountability.

This is why this tragedy is deeply connected to FIDA Nigeria’s mandate.

FIDA Nigeria exists to protect, promote and preserve the rights, interests and wellbeing of women and children through the law. Our work is rooted in the belief that vulnerability must never become a reason for a person’s rights to be ignored.

A person does not lose their right to dignity because they have been arrested. A child does not lose their rights because the child, parent or guardian is suspected of an offence.

Custody places a heightened duty of care on the State. It does not suspend human rights.

The reported presence of children among those detained is particularly troubling. FIDA Nigeria has previously spoken out against the prolonged detention and inappropriate treatment of children arrested during the #EndBadGovernance protests, stressing that children must receive the protections guaranteed under Nigeria’s child justice framework. FIDA called for detained minors to be released or transferred to the appropriate child justice pathway and for their immediate medical care, nourishment and legal protection.

That position is not negotiable.

Children deprived of their liberty are entitled to special protection. International child-justice standards require detention of children to be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period. Where detention is unavoidable, children should not be held with adults and must be kept in conditions that meet appropriate standards for health, safety and dignity.

The circumstances now emerging from Minna demand that these principles be tested against what actually happened.

The Federal Government has constituted an independent committee to investigate the deaths and suspended officers connected to the incident. The committee has been given two weeks to complete its work.

FIDA Nigeria welcomes the decision to investigate, but an investigation is only meaningful if it is independent, transparent, evidence-led and capable of producing consequences.

We therefore call for:

1. A full and independent investigation into every death.

The investigation must establish how the detainees were arrested, the basis and circumstances of their detention, the number and conditions of those held, the availability of medical assistance, when distress was noticed, the response provided, and what occurred in the critical hours before the deaths.

2. Immediate preservation of all evidence.

All detention and arrest records, CCTV footage, medical records, duty rosters, communication records, photographs, videos and other relevant evidence must be secured and preserved. Available forensic and medical evidence must be independently examined, and the circumstances and causes of death established through credible evidence.

3. Accountability where wrongdoing or negligence is established.

Suspension of officers is not accountability. Anyone found to have acted unlawfully, breached a duty of care, ignored pleas for assistance, concealed information or otherwise contributed to the deaths must face the appropriate legal consequences.

4. Immediate identification and protection of every child affected.

Authorities must establish the identity and age of every child arrested or detained. Surviving children must receive immediate medical care, psychosocial support, legal assistance and protection, and must not be returned to inappropriate detention arrangements.

5. Independent access to the detention facility.

Human rights institutions, lawyers and authorised independent monitors must have meaningful access to the facility and relevant records. Families must also receive timely and accurate information concerning their relatives.

6. Information and support for affected families.

Families of those who died must receive timely, accurate and dignified information concerning their relatives, including identification, the circumstances of their deaths and the progress and findings of the investigation.

7. A wider review of detention conditions within security agencies.

The incident should trigger an urgent review of detention facilities, with particular attention to overcrowding, ventilation, water, healthcare, emergency response, record-keeping, monitoring and safeguards for children and other vulnerable detainees.

8. Stronger safeguards for children in conflict with the law.

Children must not be swept into adult detention systems during security operations. Authorities must apply appropriate child justice procedures, prioritising protection, diversion and non-custodial measures wherever permitted by law.

FIDA Nigeria is also mindful of what has happened on the streets of Minna since the deaths became known. Public anger is understandable. The protests, destruction of property, clashes with security forces and the imposition of a curfew have further deepened an already painful situation.

But anger must not produce another cycle of preventable deaths.

The answer to a failure of justice cannot be more violence. The answer must be justice.

FIDA Nigeria calls on the Federal Government, the Niger State Government, the NSCDC, the Nigeria Police Force, the National Human Rights Commission and all relevant oversight and justice institutions to ensure that the investigation is conducted without interference and that its findings are made public.

We also call on the authorities to place the affected families at the centre of the response. Families should not have to fight through bureaucracy to know how their loved ones died. They should not have to rely on social media videos for answers. And they should not have to beg the State to acknowledge the value of the lives it held in its custody.

Thirty-seven people died. Among them were reportedly children.

Whatever the circumstances of their arrest, they were entitled to remain alive.

FIDA Nigeria will continue to stand for the rights of women, children and other vulnerable persons who encounter the justice and security systems. The rule of law means more than arresting people suspected of wrongdoing. It also means ensuring that the State exercises its power lawfully, humanely and accountably.

 

A detention facility must never become a place where the vulnerable disappear from public view.

 

The families deserve the truth. The survivors deserve protection. The children deserve justice. And where the State failed in its duty, there must be accountability.

 

Signed

 

Eliana Martins
Country Vice President
FIDA Nigeria

Chineze Obianyo
National Publicity Sec.
FIDA Nigeria