Nigerians Demand Answers Over Deaths Of 37 In Government Custody, Atiku Tells Tinubu, Alake and Tunji-Ojo

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has declared that President Bola Tinubu, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, and the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, have 37 unexplained deaths on their hands and must not be allowed to hide behind propaganda or sacrifice junior officers to protect those at the top.

In a statement issued on Saturday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Mr Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the victims were arrested alive by agents of the Nigerian government, detained under state authority, and never returned alive to their families.

He said the administration must answer one simple but devastating question: How did 37 Nigerians die after the government arrested them and assumed responsibility for their safety?

“Thirty-seven Nigerians, many of them teenagers, entered government custody alive. Thirty-seven of them died there. The Tinubu administration cannot explain away 37 bodies with press releases, suspensions and bureaucratic excuses.

“These were not casualties of Boko Haram. They were not murdered by bandits. They did not die on a battlefield. They died after agents of the Nigerian government arrested, transported and detained them inside a government facility.

“The government seized their freedom and assumed responsibility for their safety. It must now account for every life lost. President Tinubu, Dele Alake and Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo cannot hide behind propaganda while 37 Nigerian families bury their children.

“In 2014, at least 16 young Nigerians died during the Nigeria Immigration Service recruitment tragedy. The supervising minister, Abba Moro, was investigated and subsequently prosecuted over matters arising from that exercise. Why should the standard be different today? Are these lives worth less because the victims were poor, unemployed and accused of illegal mining?

“These Nigerians were arrested during an operation against alleged illegal mining and detained by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, an agency supervised by the Ministry of Interior. Survivors have alleged that they were crammed into an overcrowded, poorly ventilated cell where they struggled to breathe.

“That allegation demands an immediate and independent criminal investigation. It cannot be resolved through an internal inquiry in which government officials investigate government agents and present government-approved conclusions to Nigerians.

“Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has direct and unavoidable questions to answer. He supervises the agency in whose custody these Nigerians allegedly died. He cannot claim credit for the NSCDC’s achievements and then outsource responsibility when 37 people die in its custody.

“Dele Alake must equally account for the enforcement operations surrounding the sector he supervises. Instead of confronting this catastrophe with the gravity it demands, he remained conspicuously silent while occupying himself with political propaganda. When 37 Nigerians die following an operation connected to your sector, silence is not neutrality; it is an abdication of responsibility.

“President Tinubu bears ultimate responsibility for the conduct of his government. He cannot behave like a spectator whenever his administration is confronted by tragedy, scandal or failure. The buck stops at his desk, and 37 unexplained deaths cannot be delegated away.

“The administration is attempting to bury the central question beneath suspensions and carefully managed explanations. But Nigerians will continue to ask: How did 37 citizens enter government custody alive and emerge dead?

“Suspending a few officers is not justice. Junior officers must not be turned into sacrificial lambs while those who authorised, supervised and controlled the operation escape scrutiny.

“In any responsible democracy, the unexplained death of even one person in state custody would provoke a national reckoning. Here, 37 citizens are dead, yet the government appears more interested in managing public outrage than establishing the truth.

“If Boko Haram had killed these Nigerians, the government would rightly blame Boko Haram. If bandits had killed them, it would blame bandits. But this was neither Boko Haram nor a bandit attack. These citizens died under the direct watch of the Tinubu-led APC government.

“The state arrested them. The state transported them. The state detained them. The state controlled the facility and assumed responsibility for their welfare. The state cannot now run away from their deaths.

“There is an even deeper tragedy. With education, opportunity and modest start-up capital, these young Nigerians could have become innovators, entrepreneurs and job creators. They could have supported their families, transformed their communities and contributed meaningfully to Nigeria’s development.

“Instead, the unemployment, poverty and hopelessness deepened by the Tinubu administration drove many young Nigerians into dangerous and unlawful mining simply to survive. This government denied them opportunity in life; poverty drove them into the pits; government agents arrested them there; and now their families have received corpses and excuses.

“These young people were failed three times: first, by an economy that offered them no future; second, by a state that criminalised their struggle for survival; and finally, by a government that failed to protect them after taking away their freedom.

“Illegal mining is robbing Nigeria of its resources, destroying communities and threatening national security. It must be confronted firmly. But fighting illegal mining is not a licence for state agents to arrest citizens alive and return their bodies to their families.

“An allegation is not a death sentence. An arrest warrant is not a warrant to kill. Government custody must never become a gateway to the mortuary.

“Every official involved in the arrest, transportation and detention of these Nigerians must be identified, suspended and subjected to an independent criminal investigation. The inquiry must establish the entire chain of command: who authorised the operation, who ordered the arrests, how many people were confined in the cell, and who was responsible for their welfare.

“It must determine when the detainees first showed signs of distress, who was informed, what medical assistance was provided, and the precise cause of every death. It must also establish what Dele Alake and Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo knew, when they knew it, and what actions they took.

“All detention registers, operational records, communication logs, medical reports, photographs and available surveillance footage must be secured immediately. Independent autopsies must be conducted, the victims’ families must be represented, and all evidence must be protected from alteration, disappearance or destruction.

“The findings must be made public, and anyone found responsible must face the full weight of the law, regardless of uniform, rank or political connection. A government-controlled inquiry designed to contain public anger and clear government officials would be nothing more than a cover-up masquerading as accountability.

“Until the Tinubu administration provides a credible and independently verifiable explanation, Nigerians are entitled to suspect criminal negligence, abuse of power and a possible cover-up.

“The blood of these young Nigerians will continue to cry out for justice until the truth is told and everyone responsible is held accountable. Their blood cannot be silenced by propaganda, their deaths cannot be buried beneath bureaucracy, and their lives cannot be cancelled with press releases.

“Thirty-seven lives mattered. Thirty-seven families are grieving. Thirty-seven Nigerians entered government custody alive and never returned home.

“Suspensions are not justice. Propaganda is not an explanation. Silence is not accountability. Tinubu cannot look away, Alake cannot propagandise his way out of responsibility, and Tunji-Ojo cannot wash his hands of deaths recorded under an agency he supervises.

“We will not accept scapegoats. We will not accept excuses. We will not accept a government investigating itself merely to clear itself.

“We demand the truth. We demand accountability. We demand justice for all 37 victims,” Atiku said.