The Allied People’s Movement (APM) has called for an expeditious, open, transparent and unrestricted probe into the deaths of 37 miners in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Minna, Niger State.
APM, in a statement issued by the National Publicity Secretary Abubakar Yusuf, rejected the claim of a suspected outbreak of disease in the cell, and said it only validates reports of inhuman conditions under which they were detained for over two days.
The party said the episode further spotlights the level of inconsequentiality the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration attaches to human lives.
“It is unimaginable that sixty-six persons were cramped into a cell where 37 of them died of excessive heat and after being reportedly sprayed with a yet-to-be-identified substance,” APM stated.
The party stated that this is not the Nigeria dream, regretting that while thousands of Nigerians who fell victim to terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and armed robbers suffer brutality in the hands of their captors, “It is unthinkable that Nigerians could be subjected to such acts of dehumanization by an agency of the APC-led Federal Government.”
It condemned the reported use of ammunition and tear gas by security agencies against unarmed citizens protesting the death of the victims, adding that such could lead to more fatalities.
APM said that is why Nigeria needs a reset, stating that the death of citizens in detention facilities cannot be justified under any guise.
“The lives of citizens must be treated with dignity as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution (as amended),” the party demanded.
APM sympathised with the families of the victims and the people of Niger State, and called on Nigerians to remain calm and await the outcome of the probe.
