'One after another, they started dying': survivors recount deaths in detention in Nigeria

‌Nigerian ​prison guards sprayed an unidentified substance into a crowded cell where dozens of detainees died and kept the doors locked, ignoring cries for help, according to three survivors. The 37 deaths, which included many teenagers working in artisanal gold mines, have triggered protests in Nigeria, raising fresh concerns about conditions in detention facilities and how the country's security agencies treat suspects who are often held for extended periods ‌while awaiting trial.

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) paramilitary agency had raided suspected illegal gold mines and locked up dozens of miners in Minna, the capital of Niger State, as part of efforts to regulate mining. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered an investigation into the deaths. His government earlier suspended some senior officials from the NSCDC, pending the outcome of the investigation.

The NSCDC, Nigeria's interior ministry, which oversees the agency, and the Niger state government, did not respond to written questions from Reuters. Authorities presented the bodies to the media on Thursday ‌but it was not possible for Reuters to determine the cause of death. Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo unveiled a 10-member panel to investigate the incident, including a retired deputy director general of Nigeria's intelligence agency, a retired head of the Nigerian Law School, a ‌professor of medicine and a human rights lawyer, among others.

"To Nigerians, I say this: We owe you the truth. This committee will give you the truth. No officer, no matter how highly placed, or any individual, not just officer, will be shielded if found culpable," Tunji-Ojo said in Abuja. NSCDC initially said on Thursday the prisoners may have died from an outbreak of an unspecified disease, before later saying the cause of death had not been established.

A Minna General Hospital spokesperson said the bodies had shown no sign of torture when they arrived on Thursday but there were blister and bite marks, and a brown fluid was observed coming from ⁠the mouths and ​noses of some of the deceased. Pathologists have carried out a detailed ⁠forensic examination in the last 24 hours on three bodies and samples were to be taken to Lagos for analysis, the spokesperson added, without saying when results would be ready.

'THEY STARTED DYING' Adamu Isah, 22, said he was among a group of teenagers and young men rounded up in a sweep last week of ⁠gold mines outside Minna.

The group was driven back into town and, at around 8 p.m. (1900 GMT) on September 16, around 17 of them were locked up in a cell measuring 5 square metres, or about 16 feet by 16 feet, with a small, single window. Isah said nearly 50 ​more detained miners were moved into the cell, and they started complaining to the guards that it was too full. Shortly afterwards, officers sprayed an unidentified substance under the door, he said.

"At first, we thought they were trying to put ⁠some scent into the room because there were so many people inside," he told Reuters. About an hour later, detainees began behaving erratically and falling unconscious. "Then, one after another, they started dying," he said, now back home recovering from the ordeal.

Dauda Shehu, 29, said he was also among those who survived the incident. "They sprayed something which smelled ⁠like ​a perfume," he said. "Hours later we started feeling throats itching, then we started struggling to breathe. People started dying."

Isah and Shehu described scenes of panic as detainees shouted for help and pounded on the door. Some victims appeared disoriented and became aggressive before collapsing, Isah said. Reuters could not independently verify the accounts or determine what might have been sprayed into the cells, or why.

Another survivor gave a similar account of a product being sprayed into the cramped cell. In a clip shown on Nigeria's TVC News, a local ⁠channel, the unnamed survivor recounted his story to senior government officials, including Niger State Governor Umar Bago and Tunji-Ojo.

"We kept complaining that it (cell) was tiny, yet none of them listened to us," he said, speaking in Hausa. "We again complained but were ignored, they ⁠then locked the cell and sprayed something like scent," he said, adding ⁠that people began collapsing soon after. "I don't know what was sprayed but ... it smelt like pepper."

The survivor said he fainted and woke up in the morning. Many of the victims were buried immediately in accordance with Islamic tradition. Three bodies remained in the hospital on Tuesday, the spokesperson said.

Anger over the incident led to clashes on Friday, which left one person dead and forced Niger officials ‌to impose a 24-hour curfew.