Thirty-seven people arrested during an operation against suspected illegal mining in Minna, Niger State, died while in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), leaving unanswered questions about what happened inside the detention facility.
The detainees were arrested on 15 and 16 September during operations around the M.I. Wushishi and Lukoto areas of Minna. Two days later, 37 of them were found dead inside an NSCDC detention facility.
The NSCDC initially attributed the deaths to a suspected outbreak of disease, saying medical examinations would determine the actual cause. But accounts from survivors have painted a different and disturbing picture of the final hours inside the cell.
Survivors described a severely overcrowded room with inadequate ventilation, intense heat and detainees desperately asking for water and struggling to breathe.
One survivor, Dauda Shehu, told local media that dozens of detainees were crammed into a small cell. He described a moment when those inside began struggling for air and banging on the door for help.
Another survivor alleged that an unidentified substance was sprayed inside the cell shortly before the situation deteriorated, although there has been no official confirmation that such a substance caused or contributed to the deaths.
A separate account from a teenage survivor described hearing men in the adjoining cell screaming for water and complaining about the heat before the cries eventually stopped. She later said the women were told that the men had died.
The deaths have triggered public anger, protests and demands for an independent investigation into the conditions under which the detainees were held.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ordered a comprehensive investigation, while Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo constituted a 10-member independent committee and suspended officers connected to the detention facility pending the outcome of the inquiry.
Niger State Governor Umar Bago also confirmed the deaths and said forensic examinations, medical examinations and autopsies were being conducted to establish the scientific cause.
For the families of the dead, however, the central question remains unanswered: how did 37 people die inside a government detention facility within days of their arrest?
Until the investigations establish what happened, claims of disease, suffocation, exposure to an unidentified substance or other possible causes remain subject to verification.
The cell has been opened. The bodies are gone. But the questions about what happened behind that locked door remain.
