'I Have Never Felt Heat Like That': Survivor Recounts Watching 33 Cellmates Die in Minna Detention

Usman Muhammad pauses at the doorway of a cramped detention cell in Minna, Niger state, and presses his forehead against the wall, struggling to speak. The previous day he had been locked inside the roughly 6m by 3m room with more than 50 other detainees; 33 people died there and a further four later died in hospital.

The scale of the deaths has provoked public outrage and protests, including attacks on public buildings, as relatives and locals demanded answers. Federal authorities initially attributed the fatalities to a suspected diphtheria outbreak, but an official inquiry has since been launched to establish the precise cause and whether negligence or maltreatment played a role.

"I have never felt heat like that in my life. When we touched each other's bodies, it felt like fire burning," Muhammad told the BBC after he regained his composure.

Survivors describe the cell as having standing-room only, with humidity exceeding 90% — a level that can be life-threatening because sweat cannot evaporate and the body cannot cool itself. Outside temperatures were reported above 25°C, and the only ventilation was a small, high window.

The only air coming into the cell was from a small window high up on the wall [BBC]

"One of us fainted and we started knocking at the door. When a guard came we asked for water. He looked at the man who had fainted and closed the door. That's how they started dying one after the other," Muhammad said.

Many of those detained were artisanal miners in their 20s, who work informal mining sites to eke out a living. Federal authorities have said they are cracking down on alleged illegal mining because of its environmental damage, lost revenue and links to broader criminal activity. Officers from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) detained a large group of miners near Minna the week before the deaths and held them at the NSCDC detention centre in the city.

As hours passed inside the cell, desperation set in. Muhammad and other survivors say some detainees drank their own urine and collected sweat from their bodies in an attempt to survive. They describe scenes of people gasping for air and calling for help — appeals they say went unanswered.

[BBC]

"People were calling for help, some were already very weak," another survivor told Reuters. He added that when detainees tried to force the door, a security officer told them it "wasn't his problem if people died."

When the cell was finally opened on Thursday, guards found multiple dead bodies inside. The NSCDC has not publicly released the names or the full number of detainees it was holding, and it has not formally answered all allegations of neglect. The agency says 24 of its personnel are now in custody in connection with the deaths, including the suspended Niger state commandant Suberu Aniviye.

Niger state Governor Umaru Bago told the BBC: "The people who were killed are not flies. How can this go unlooked? We will get to the bottom of this." Because the NSCDC is a federal agency rather than under the governor's direct command, Governor Bago says his powers are limited; he nonetheless welcomed the federal investigation.

A 10-member federal committee has been appointed in Abuja to determine what happened. The panel has two weeks to identify causes, recommend legal action where appropriate and name those responsible. Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo warned that no officer, regardless of rank, would be immune from scrutiny, and that attempts to obstruct the inquiry would be taken seriously.

As he left the cell after speaking to the BBC, Muhammad said he hoped his testimony would help secure justice and bring some measure of closure to relatives and survivors of the traumatic episode.

For ongoing coverage, see related reporting on mining, environmental damage and detention standards in Nigeria.